Humanism implies educating for emancipation, overcoming barbarism and competition

Abstract

In the present article I intend to analyze the educational conception of Theodor W. Adorno because it allows us to understand the current relevance of the concept of autonomous human being in the era of capitalist society. Here I recover the thought of Adorno who belonged to the Frankfurt School and who along with his prime representatives Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse, criticized the prevalence of positivist science and the degree to which it became a powerful paradigm of ideology education of the twentieth century and the twenty-first century. In this article I am guided by the thesis that education should be focused on emancipation (moral autonomy), on the human being, and on overcoming barbarism, awareness and disenchantment. The text focuses on the following problems: a) what are the constitutive features of a humanist and emancipatory formation? b) How can be argued that emancipatory formation is really necessary in a capitalist society that rarely strives to recognize the dignity of its citizens?