Jan Amos Comenius (born March 28, 1592 in Nivnice, Moravia, died November 14, 1670 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands) was a Czech educational reformer and religious leader. Known for innovative teaching methods, particularly languages.
Jan Amos Comenius: biography
The youngest of five children, Comenius was born into a moderately we althy family of devout members of the Bohemian Brethren Protestant community. After the death of his parents and two sisters in 1604, presumably from the plague, he lived with relatives and received a mediocre education, until in 1608 he entered the Latin school of the Bohemian brothers in Přerov. Three years later, thanks to the patronage of Count Karl Żerotinsky, he entered the Reformed University in Herborn under the influence of Johann Heinrich Alsted. Many aspects of Comenius' thought are very reminiscent of the latter's philosophy. Alsted, an opponent of Aristotle and a follower of Peter Ramus, was deeply interested in Raymond Lull and Giordano Bruno, was a chiliast in theology and worked on a collection of all knowledge in his famous Encyclopedia (1630). After finishing his studies in Heidelberg in 1614, Jan Comenius returned to his homeland, where he first taught at a school. But in 1618, two years after his ordination as a priest of the Bohemian Brethren, he became a pastor in Fulneck. His first published work, A Grammar of Latin, dates from these years.
The Thirty Years' War and the Battle of White Mountain in November 1620 had a significant impact on Comenius' life, as most of his work was aimed at returning land and faith to his people. For the next eight years, he was not safe, until the final expulsion of the brothers from the imperial lands brought him to Leszno, Poland, where he tentatively visited, negotiating the possibility of a settlement.
Jan Amos Comenius, whose biography over the years was marked by the death of his first wife Magdalena and their two children, married a second time in 1624. He completed The Labyrinth of Light and the Paradise of the Heart in 1623 and the Centrum securitatis in 1625, publishing them in Czech in 1631 and 1633 respectively.
From 1628 to 1641 Jan Comenius lived in Leszno as a bishop for his flock and rector of the local gymnasium. He also found time to work on the reform of knowledge and pedagogy, writing, and among other things for his first great book, Didactica magna. Written in Czech, it was published in Latin in 1657 as part of the Opera didactica omnia, which contains most of the work created since 1627
Another book written at this time by Jan Amos Comenius, The Mother's School, is dedicated to the first six years of raising a child.
Unexpected popularity
In 1633 JanComenius unexpectedly gained European notoriety with the publication of Janua linguarum reserata (An Open Door to Languages), which was published the same year. This is a simple introduction to Latin according to a new method based on principles derived from Wolfgang Rathke and the textbooks published by the Spanish Jesuits of Salamanca. The reform of language learning, which made it faster and easier for everyone, was characteristic of the general reformation of mankind and the world, which all chiliasts sought to achieve in the remaining hours before the return of Christ.
Jan Comenius made an agreement with the Englishman Samuel Hartlieb, to whom he sent the manuscript of his "Christian omniscience" called Conatuum Comenianorum praeludia, and then, in 1639, Pansophiae prodromus. In 1642, Hartlieb published an English translation called The Reform of the Schools. Jan Amos Comenius, whose contribution to pedagogy aroused great interest in certain circles in England, was invited by Hartlieb to London. In September 1641, he arrived in the capital of Great Britain, where he met his supporters, as well as such people as John Pell, Theodore Haack and Sir Cheney Culpeper. He was invited to stay permanently in England, the creation of a Pansophic college was planned. But the Irish Rebellion soon put an end to all these optimistic plans, although Comenius remained in Britain until June 1642. While in London, he wrote the work Via Lucis ("The Way of Light"), which was distributed in manuscript form in England until it was printed in 1668 in Amsterdam. At the same time, the Czech teacher received an offer from Richelieu to continuehis activities in Paris, but instead he visited Descartes near Leiden.
Work in Sweden
In Sweden, Jan Comenius again met with difficulties. Chancellor Oxenstierna wanted him to write useful books for schools. Comenius, at the insistence of his English friends, offered to work on pansophia. He focused on two issues at once, retiring to Elbing in Prussia, then under Swedish rule, between 1642 and 1648. His work Pansophiae diatyposis was published in Danzig in 1643, and Linguarum methodus nouissima in Leszno in 1648. In 1651 Pansophia was published in English as a model of universal knowledge. His Natural Philosophy Reformed by Divine Light, or Lumen divinuem reformatate synopsis (Leipzig, 1633), appeared the same year. In 1648, returning to Leszno, Comenius became the twentieth and last bishop of the Bohemian Brotherhood (subsequently transformed into Moravian).
Failure at Sharoshpatak
In 1650, the educator Jan Comenius received a call from Prince Sigismund Rakoczy of Transylvania, younger brother of George II Rakoczi, to come to Sarospatak for consultations on school reform and pansophy. He introduced many changes in the local school, but despite the hard work, his success was small, and in 1654 he returned to Leszno. At the same time, Comenius prepared one of his most famous works, Orbis sensualium Pictus ("The Sensual World in Pictures", 1658),in Latin and German. It is important to note that the work opened with an epigraph from Genesis when Adam gave names (Gen. 2:19-20). It was the first school book to use pictures of objects to teach languages. She illustrated the fundamental principle that Jan Amos Comenius professed. Briefly, it sounds like this: words must be accompanied by things and cannot be studied separately from them. In 1659, Charles Hoole published an English version of the textbook, Comenius' Visible World, or A Picture and List of All the Major Things that Exist in the World and of Human Activities.
The lack of success in Sarospatak is probably due in large part to the passion for the fantastic prophecies of the visionary and enthusiast Nikolai Darbik. Not the first time Comenius bet on the prophet of the last day - a weakness that other chiliasts succumbed to. They relied too much on forecasts of apocalyptic events and unexpected twists and turns in the near future, such as the fall of the House of Habsburg or the end of the papacy and the Roman Church. The publication of these statements in order to influence political events had a negative impact on the reputation of an outstanding educator.
Recent years
Shortly after Comenius returned to Leszno, a war broke out between Poland and Sweden, and in 1656 Leszno was completely destroyed by Polish troops. He lost all his books and manuscripts and was again forced to leave the country. He was invited to settle in Amsterdam, where he spent the rest of his life inhome of the son of his former patron Laurence de Geer. During these years he completed a great work that occupied him for at least twenty years, De rerum humanarum emendatione consultatio catholica. The seven-part book summed up his entire life and became a comprehensive discussion on the subject of improving human things. Pampedia, instructions for general education, is preceded by Pansophia, its foundation, followed by Panglottia, instructions for overcoming the confusion of languages, which will make possible the final reformation. Although some parts of the work were published as early as 1702, it was considered lost until the end of 1934, when the book was found in Halle. It was first published in its entirety in 1966.
Komensky is buried in the Walloon Church in Naarden, near Amsterdam. His thoughts were highly appreciated by the German pietists of the 18th century. In his own country, he is prominent as a national hero and writer.
The path of light
Jan Amos Comenius devoted his works to the rapid and effective reform of all things related to human life in the field of religion, society and knowledge. His program was "The Path of Light", designed to bring about the greatest possible enlightenment of man before his soon return to the earthly millennium kingdom of Christ. The universal aims were piety, virtue, and knowledge; wisdom was achieved by excelling in all three.
Thus, theology was the source and purpose of all Comenius' works. His beliefs and aspirations were shared by many of hiscontemporaries, but his system was by far the most complete of the many proposed in the 17th century. It was, in essence, a recipe for salvation through knowledge raised to the level of universal wisdom, or pansophia, supported by an appropriate educational program. Corresponding to the divine order of things at that time, when it was believed that the last century was coming, was the possibility of achieving a general reform through the invention of printing, as well as the expansion of shipping and international trade, which for the first time in history promised the worldwide dissemination of this new, reforming wisdom.
Because God is hidden behind his work, man must open himself to three revelations: the visible creation, in which the power of God is manifested; a man made in the image of God and showing proof of his divine wisdom; word, with his promise of good will towards man. Everything that a person should know and not know should be extracted from three books: the nature, the mind or spirit of man, and the Scriptures. To achieve this wisdom, he is endowed with feelings, reason and faith. Since man and nature are God's creations, they must share the same order, a postulate that guarantees the complete harmony of all things among themselves and with the human mind.
Know yourself and nature
This well-known doctrine of the macrocosm-microcosm gives confidence that a person is really capable of gaining hitherto unrealized wisdom. Everyone thus becomes a pansophist, a little god. Pagans who lack the revealed word cannot reach this wisdom. Even Christians have until recently been lost in a maze of errors due to tradition and the flood of books that at best contain scattered knowledge. A person should turn only to divine works and learn by direct collision with things - with the help of an autopsy, as Comenius called it. Jan Amos based pedagogical ideas on the fact that all learning and knowledge begins with feelings. It follows that the mind has innate representations that enable a person to comprehend the order he encounters. The world and the life of each individual is a school. Nature teaches, the teacher is nature's servant, and naturalists are priests in nature's temple. Man must know himself and nature.
Encyclopedia of Omniscience
To find a way out of the labyrinth, a person needs Ariadne's thread, a method by which he will see the order of things, understanding their causes. This method should be given in a book on pansophy, in which the order of nature and the order of the mind will gradually move towards wisdom and insight. It will contain nothing but concrete and useful knowledge, replacing all other books. A complete record of information, thus organized, is a veritable encyclopedia, much like Robert Hooke's "repository" of natural curiosities at the Royal Society, organized according to the categories of John Wilkins in his An Essay on Genuine Symbolism and Philosophical Language. By following this natural method, people can easily acquire full andcomprehensive possession of all knowledge. The result of this will be true universality; and again there will be order, light and peace. Thanks to this transformation, man and the world will return to a state similar to that which was before the fall.
Innovation in education
Jan Comenius, whose pedagogy demanded that from early childhood a child learn to compare things and words, considered native speech the first acquaintance with reality, which should not be clouded by empty words and poorly understood concepts. At school, foreign languages - first of all neighboring countries, and then Latin - should be studied in their native language, and school books should follow the method of pansophia. The Door to Tongues will offer the same material as the Door to Things, and both will be small encyclopedias. School textbooks should be divided into age groups and only deal with things that are within the child's experience. Latin is best suited for general communication, but Comenius was looking forward to the emergence of a perfect philosophical language that would reflect the method of pansophia, would not be misleading, and would not be uninformative. Language is simply a vehicle of knowledge, but its correct use and teaching is the sure means to attain light and wisdom.
Life is like a school
Jan Comenius, whose didactics was directed not only towards formal school education, but also to all age groups, believed that all life is a school and preparation for eternal life. girls andboys should study together. Since all people have an innate desire for knowledge and godliness, they should learn in a spontaneous and playful manner. Corporal punishment should not be used. Poor study is not the fault of the student, but indicates the inability of the teacher to fulfill his role of "servant of nature" or "obstetrician of knowledge", as Comenius used to say.
Jan Amos, whose pedagogical ideas were considered the most significant and, perhaps, his only contribution to science, himself considered them only a means of a general transformation of mankind, the basis for which was pansophia, and theology - the only guiding motive. The abundance of biblical quotations in his writings is a constant reminder of this source of inspiration. Jan Comenius considered the books of the prophecies of Daniel and the revelations of John to be the main means of gaining knowledge for the inevitable millennium. The story of Adam's naming in Genesis and the wisdom of Solomon shaped his conception of man and his belief in order, which is reflected in pansophia, because God "arranged everything by measure, number and weight." He relied on the complex metaphorical and structural properties of Solomon's temple. For him man was, like Adam, at the center of creation. He knows all nature and thus controls and uses it. Therefore, the transformation of man was only part of a complete transformation of the world, which would restore its original purity and order and would be the ultimate tribute to its creator.
A man of his time
Jan Amos Comenius did not contribute anycontribution to natural science and was deeply alien to the development of science that was taking place at that time. Other assessments of his work have been made, but they have completely ignored his dependence on a priori postulates and his theological orientation. On the other hand, several eminent members of the Royal Society have shown close kinship with much of his thought. The Society's motto Nullius in Verba occupies a significant place in Comenius's Natural Philosophy Transformed by Divine Light, and in both contexts it has the same meaning. This is a reminder that tradition and authority are no longer the arbiters of truth. It is given to nature, and observation is the only source of concrete knowledge. The much-discussed problem of the relationship between Comenius and the early Royal Society is still unresolved, largely because discussion of the issue is based on scant familiarity with his writings and almost complete ignorance of his correspondence.
Allegations about the influence of the Czech reformer on Leibniz are greatly exaggerated. He was so typical of the beliefs, doctrines, and issues of the day that the same thoughts were expressed by others who figured prominently in Leibniz's early writings. Jan Amos Comenius drew his ideas from the theology of the Bohemian brothers (with their strong chiliastic tendencies), as well as from such famous personalities as Johann Valentin Andree, Jacob Boehme, Nicholas of Cusa, Juan Luis Vives, Bacon, Campanella, Raimund de Sabunde (Theologia naturalis which he published in Amsterdam in 1661 under the title Oculus fidei) and Mersenne,whose correspondence testifies to a positive attitude towards Comenius and his work.
