THE SPECIFICITY OF FREEDOM AND CREATIVITY ETHICS IN N. BERDYAEV’S PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

Abstract

The specificity of N. Berdyaev’s freedom and creativity ethics reflects its implicit pedagogical potential, consisting in original religious and philosophical treatment of education. The source of education is the image of God in man, the way of education is a free communion with the truth, the sense of education is restoring God’s image of man through free creative response to God’s call. N. Berdyaev marks out a special educational role of Christianity in the world history, which is seen as a global educational process of spiritual and moral education of the whole mankind. The ethical and pedagogical teaching of N. Berdyaev is not teleological, but a spiritual and energetical one. In fact, it denies single-sided dominance of ends over means, considers them to be the inseparable unity in order to avoid ideal objectification. In this respect, the way of education is not less important than its ends, and education itself appears to be not the means of living but the sense, contents and way of “the life of spirit”.