モンテッソーリにおける「子ども」
一九-二〇世紀転換期の優生学的な知の中で
1998 年 1998 巻 77 号 p. 78-91
詳細
1998 年 1998 巻 77 号 p. 78-91
This paper attempts to examine how Montessori understood children in the context of eugenics from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Based on that examination, this paper also studies why the scientist Montessori became an educator.
In the context of eugenics, scientists generally agreed to the recapitulation theory. They Believed that people's physical sizes and shapes correlated with their levels of morality. They also believed that it was possible to judge the levels of the morality of people by measuring their bodily degenerations. This belief led the scientists to the reform of society. In fact, many of social reforms were performed through sterilizations and eugenic marriages.
Montessori also agreed to the recapitulation theory. She thought that it was possible to judge the levels of morality of children by measuring their bodily degenerations. However, she did not intend to reform society by sterilizations. She considered degenerations of children as diseases that can be healed and intended to reform society by treating or improving children, as the Italian school in Anthropology did. Montessori's recognition of the curability in children led her from a scientist to an educator.
