Pedagogical Problems in Lindner’s Eine Cardinalfrage der Schulpadagogik of 1875

The author first characterizes the early literary work of G. A. Lindner (1828—1887), who in the years 1882—1887 was professor of philosophy and pedagogy at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Czech University in Prague. His work at Kutna Hora in the years 1872—1882 as head of the Teacher Training College and inspector of schools allowed him to see the contemporary educational problems in practice. In Vienna he published German and Czech textbooks of general pedagogy for candidates of the teaching profession, whom he introduced into the practice of teaching. Towards the end of his stay at Kutna Hora he founded the first Czech scientific pedagogical monthly, Paedagogium (1879—1888), which he edited for three years and round which he grouped not only theoreticians but also men of practice. In a paper of 1875, written in German, entitled ≫Eine Cardinalfrage der Schulpadagogik ≪, he showed the necessity of internal unity between the objective norm and the personal initiative of the teacher’s didactic work in the process of teaching as seen from the viewpoint of effective balance in practice. He aimed at overcoming the linear way of teaching, in which pupils are taught individual isolated subjects in parallel but without any interconnection. At the Department of Philosophy and Pedagogy in Prague Lindner strove to create a system of pedagogical science, which he did not quite succeed in doing, however good his plans might have been. His posthumous Pedagogy based on the idea of natural, cultural and moral development, remained a fragment, which, however, became a vivid stimulus for the reform work of his followers.