This semester of class in Religion 275 has genuinely challenged me, pushed me to think and learn in a more intellectual manner, and has helped me grow as a debater and as a writer. We’ve wrestled with the wide variety of topics in Gadamer’s Truth and Method, we’ve talked about culture and diversity with Voltaire, we’ve dissected the idea of enlightenment with Hume and Kant, and we’ve touched on religion and the value of a liberal education in our last few texts. However, the topic that I have wrestled with the most this semester is the idea of a liberal education, and its relationship to the Gadamerian concepts of Bildung, Erfahrung, and spiel.
As a student at one of the top liberal arts schools in the country, it is almost a necessity that I believe in the power of a liberal education. Personally, I’ve always believed that an educated person should be intellectually well-rounded, with an open mind that can lead to effective problem solving in a variety of worldly issues. I also believe that …show more content…
After really playing with the term Erfahrung, and looking at the ins and outs of our discussion in class, I felt as if it closely related to the idea of a liberal education and Bildung. When experiencing art, something that is often done in education, an Erfahrung experience occurs. At its core, for an Erfahrung experience to occur, one must really get up close and personal with a piece, immersing themselves into the work of art and into its intended purpose (Gadamer, 86). This idea of immersion relates so deeply to Bildung, where you must be open, immersing yourself into new opportunities, putting yourself into someone else’s shoes. For both ideas to successfully occur, one must see the art or the person in their own world, jumping in with an open
As a student at one of the top liberal arts schools in the country, it is almost a necessity that I believe in the power of a liberal education. Personally, I’ve always believed that an educated person should be intellectually well-rounded, with an open mind that can lead to effective problem solving in a variety of worldly issues. I also believe that …show more content…
After really playing with the term Erfahrung, and looking at the ins and outs of our discussion in class, I felt as if it closely related to the idea of a liberal education and Bildung. When experiencing art, something that is often done in education, an Erfahrung experience occurs. At its core, for an Erfahrung experience to occur, one must really get up close and personal with a piece, immersing themselves into the work of art and into its intended purpose (Gadamer, 86). This idea of immersion relates so deeply to Bildung, where you must be open, immersing yourself into new opportunities, putting yourself into someone else’s shoes. For both ideas to successfully occur, one must see the art or the person in their own world, jumping in with an open