Le Nouvel humanisme: une critique du progressisme éducatif

Abstract

The New Humanism is a movement of literary criticism deployed from the beginning of the twentieth century to the Second World War, which has many implications for education. We discuss two of his principal figures, Irving Babbitt (1865) 1933), and Norman Foerster (1887-1972) to expose these issues. For the New Humanists, the teaching of “great books” has a moral and political significance and should not be reserved for specialists in literature or philosophy. This study must be widely proposed, especially at the level of secondary education, in a democratic school. For this reason, the Progressive education is the target of criticism, as an aspect of a civilization wich has reversed thte sense of Progress. Scientific progress has created a power that is not accompanied by wisdom, while the romantic reaction to the upheaval of culture through the exploration of nature has engendered sterile sentimentalism. It is in this perspective that works must be analyzed and transmitted. Norman Foerster has written and applied a program for the University of Iowa that gives a concrete idea of the teaching of the New Humanists. Should we be inspired by them to give a “bildung” to the contemporary subjects, lacking landmarks in the disorder of the twentyfirst century?