Pestalozzi e l'educazione del corpo: attualità di una pedagogia

Abstract

The aim of this short study is to highlight the importance of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi’s contribution as an educationist to the theory of body education and to emphasize the relevance and topicality of his pedagogy in the history of Western sportive paideia. In this study, we will particularly focus on a text written by Pestalozzi in the form of an essay in 1807 and entitled Über Körperbildung. This text will be summed up and interpreted by relating it to both the principles of his pedagogy and other few but significant writings in which the Swiss pedagogue addresses the theme of body education and its connection with intellectual, moral and social education. Also, in our study, we will highlight how the body is for Pestalozzi the basis of holistic education and how this latter influences not only the human being as an individual but also the community and society he or she lives in.