A critical analysis of the theories and models of self-education

Human behaviour researchers argue on self-education matters, which accumulate the complex of unsolved contentious problematic issues, referring to classical antinomies: freedom, socialization, and self-consciousness. There are many controversies concerning the interpretation of the self-education notion in social sciences and corresponding theories. The author of the paper presents those theories and explains approaches to self-education, as they have inspired countless pedagogical and psychological issues. Concurrently he underlines different activities, which illustrate two contrasting theoretical standpoints. The first one treats self-education as perfectio prima. It happens when the striving to perfection is realized by Socratic (“self-oriented”) model. Such an approach is the only motivation of individual activity and the aim in itself. On the other hand, the second perspective understands self-education as the Promethean (“out-oriented”) activity. In the light of its assumptions, it is a kind of spontaneous, nonintentional man’s activities aimed to transform reality out of oneself, the surrounding world, and the environment of life. Here, self-education is the perfectio secunda category, which means that the individual self-educates itself by reaching excellence per accidens. Such distinction is crucial for project constructing and empirical research questing.