Sárospataki Füzetek 20. (2016)

2016 / 2. szám - ARTICLES / STUDIEN - Henk E. S. Woldring: Comenius' Search for Conditions of Peace set against the Perspective of Shalom

Henk ES. Woldring

tual development of the students. 2) School education needs a continuous progress so that no stage is omitted, and no gap of knowledge will arise. Students should be encouraged to finish their education or to achieve the proposed goals of education. 3) In the schools no matter should be raised that may confuse the students, nor they should be charged with too many duties; one should also avoid setbacks that could demotivate them.

Klaus Schaller argues that Comenius’ distinction between the analytic, synthetic and syncritic methods ‘does not as such concern a method of acquiring knowledge, but rather a path on which the pansophic scholar achieves a human way of life that involves knowledge and actions.’14 I think that Schaller is right in so far that, by using the three methods just described, Comenius certainly hoped to attain knowledge, but also that these methods are inherently connected with a pansophic way of life. In other words, these methods lead to a true wisdom of life in which theoretical knowledge, practice-based knowledge, and actual renewing actions (theoria, praxis and chresis) are closely interconnected. The syncritic method of Comenius’ pansophic research is intended to perform an important role in renewing human life. Although I acknowledge that Comenius’ syncritic method of comparison may indeed give an insight into complicated problems, however, I have to add that this insight produces no more than hypothetical knowledge that should be tested by empirical research

Since Comenius was of opinion that all problems could be investigated by using the syncritic method, I will use this method in my further research of the situation of enduring peace. I will use the analytic method to divide the situation of enduring peace into its components (the characteristics as described): a situation of enduring peace is the basis of 1) the national and international order of law and justice, 2) man’s existential security, and 3) his striving for general welfare.

Next, I use the synthetic method to make a reconstruction of the order and connections between the components of a situation of enduring peace, so as to receive a better understanding of this order and connections.

Finally, I use the syncritic method to compare a situation of enduring peace with phenomena from other domains of reality. For example, one may think of the phenomena just mentioned from biology, crafts, and education: brooding an egg, planting a new tree, building a new house, and improving processes of school education. Based on such comparisons researchers may discover certain analogies. Some of these have been mentioned already: processes in which everything is done gradually, and with care, in order to achieve the best possible results. Similar analogies can also be found for the conditions of a situation of enduring peace: processes in which people take care of concord in society, and in which a gradual growth of insight exists into

14 Schauer, K.: Herder und Comenius. Ein Lehrstück zur Aufklärung der Aufklärung Johann Gottfried Herders 57. Humanitätsbrief, Sankt Augustin, Academia Verlag, 1988, 35. See Schauer, K.: Comenius 1992. Gesammelte Beiträge zum Jubiläumsjahr, Sankt Augustin, Academia Verlag, 1992,70, 96,114.

72 Sárospataki Füzetek 20. évfolyam 2016-2