Disziplinierung, Zivilisierung, Moralisierung Selbstkultivierung nach Kant

Abstract

According to Kant man is an "animal rationabile", an animal which has the potential of becoming rational. Man may therefore turn into his own "education-project". In his pedagogy Kant states that "man becomes man only through education" and furthermore distinguishes between three stages within a process he calls self-cultivation: the disciplinizing, the civilizing and the moralizing stage. The process of self-cultivation is concieved as transformation of human beings into "rational beings" and aims at overcoming the animality within man. Through a new interpretation of his three critiques this paper questions Kants perspective and tries to open up the possibility of an alternative conception of self-cultivation.