The formation of personhood in the educational theories of Philipp Abraham Kohnstamm and Martinus Jan Langeveld

This study shows how the educational theory of Kohnstamm is based on his elaboration of the philosophy of personalism. It follows that personhood formation should be understood as the becoming of a personality. This implies an educational process that, in addition to developing uniqueness and individuality, is also aimed at learning to make moral choices. From this study it ensues that personhood formation can likewise be understood as educating a child to listen to the voice of its conscience. In Kohnstamm’s understanding, this can be regarded as the voice of God. The family is the primary place of personhood formation in his theory, yet he also stressed that personhood formation is mainly self-formation. It is a process of discovering one’s own unique convictions. Another important idea in the process of personhood formation is learning to bear responsibility. As a child grows, so does this responsibility. Again, parents play the most important role in this process, but the contact between a child and a teacher or youth leader is also personhood-forming. Didactic forms of education can also contribute to this, as can subjects such as visual education, literature, drama and movement education. It is important for the educational modality to ensure that a child is formed into an individual in community. In the theory of Langeveld, personhood formation means becoming a ‘self-responsible self-determining personality’. Hereby Langeveld envisaged an education that allows for the child (the person) to discover who they are and understand why they make certain choices (self-determination). This comprises a process of formation in which both freedom and bearing responsibility increase. The role of the child as co-determinant subject in the process of personhood formation is stressed in Langeveld’s theory. An important (second) aim of Langeveld’s theory is that personhood formation also means the child is not only formed into an autonomous individual, but also learns to bear responsibility for the community. Further, this study evidences that, also in Langeveld’s theory, personhood formation can be equated with conscience formation. This comprises a process of learning to listen to the voice of one’s inner moral authority. The forming would take place primarily as part of the parent-child relationship. Next, this dissertation presents five insights that follow from this historical-educational research while contributing to contemporary discussions on personhood formation.