"Adult education is a daring challenge to the life that is to come": ideas and actions not to be unprepared for peace

Abstract

The first part of the title of this article is quoted from a writing by Eduard C. Lindeman published in 1944, dedicated to challenges and new needs that all education, and adult education in particular, will face at the end of the Second World War, into a perspective of peace based on knowledge and understanding. Recalling today his words and his coherent arguments, considering that he dedicated his research on adult education and devised its theoretical and methodological traits, does not only respond to the intention of better delineating Lindeman’s intellectual profile. This article aims to discuss some educational ideas, inspired to civil and democratic coexistence and to genuine scientific, political, and social progress. At the same time, Lindeman’s crystal-clear analysis could suggest tools for revealing apparently outdated or latent mechanisms and structures, which continue to act deep within social functioning in a contrary direction to freedom, in fact fostering war.