For a philosophical rereading of Salesian pedagogy in an aesth-ethical key

Cristiano Ciferri

Also the Salesian pedagogy has philosophical (and in particular anthropological) foundations which characterize its educational style. One of these, very clear from the beginning even if it is only partially thematised, is the «aesth-ethical» perspective, that takes into account, at the same time, the aisthesis as well as the ethos. Thus, the educational relationship becomes a via pulchritudinis travelled together, in the search for what is beautiful, in order to understand whether it is also truly good, that is, capable of realizing the full happiness of one’s own responsorial being. In this article, following the contribution of Michal Vojtáš, we will try to retrace some features of the evolutionary path of Salesian pedagogy, which we will reread in the light of Luigi Pareyson’s theory of formativity; we believe that his thought will be able to enlighten even today the pedagogical style of Don Bosco and his sons, suggesting new perspectives.

Keywords
Aesthetics, ethics, formativity, Salesian pedagogy, responsoriality.

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