The purpose of this study is to present the structure of Comenius' Pansophia, and to reveal the validity of the structure through the structural analysis of Comenius' works, and to find out some educational implications of it.
Pansophia is the universal wisdom that includes knowledge about the origin of existence(content), the manner of its existence(the way), and its proper use(purpose) of things. Romans 11:36 and Colossians 1:28 is the source of characteristic of Pansophia. Romans 11:36 are associated with the Triune God who is the source of all things, then Colossians 1:28 is related to all things created by God. The former is connected to 'perfection' which is the characteristic of Pansophia, the latter is connected to 'totality'. Perfection includes the detailed characteristics of Pansophia such as eternity, ternary, finality. These characteristics can be connected to the context of Romans 11:36. Eternity is connected with 'ek', implies the source of existence at the same time. Ternary is connected with 'dia', and implies the means of existence. Finality is connected with 'eis', and implies the purpose of existence. And the totality has the detailed characteristics such as 'unity', 'harmony', 'order'. These characteristics of Pansophia are helpful to organize the structure of Pansophia.
The following figure shows the structure of the Pansophia. This figure has been summarized through Comenius' three pictures of God(Deus), human(Homo), world(Mundus).
As a result of analyzing the structure of comenius' works-Great Didactic(Didactica Magna), The Way of Light(Via Lucis), The Orbis Pictus of John Amos Comenius(Orbis Sensualium Pictus), Comenius' Pampaedia or Universal Education(Pampaedia)-the characteristics are similar to the structure of Pansophia that shown in the figure.
Although Comenius' Pansophia idea is essentially universal and comprehensive system, but in fact the beginning of that was their educational needs. Pansophia is a comprehensive system of thought which is originated from the educational needs to continually organize educational 'potential' and 'efficiency'. So the purpose of Pansophia is very educational. The important thing is the balance between the essence in relation to God and the real with respect to life. The structure of Pansophia helps to maintain this balance. Therefore, it is important to illuminate the education through the structure of Pansophia. Through these lights, the following conclusions were obtained.
First, God is the center of the structure of Pansophia. The structure of Pansophia shows that all things are starting from God, existing through God, advancing to God. This is essential. In order to be perfect in practical aspects, we should not lose the centrality of God.
Second, the structure of Pansophia is to emphasize personality for the purpose of education.
Third, the structure of Pansophia clearly shows comprehensive areas in content of education(World-Man-God, Science-Philosophy-Theology, School-State-Church).
Fourth, the structure of Pansophia shows the 'thoroughly' as educational methods. This emphasize the role of education in human(mind, tongue, and hands).
Fifth, the structure of Pansophia shows the balance of educational elements such as human nature(intelligence-virtue-spirituality), learning materials(natural-rational-the Bible), learning method(in theory-practice- used).
Sixth, the structure of Pansophia shows the consistency of the education. An example of this is a spiral curriculum of Pampaedia, the continuity of educational contents and sequence.
Finally, the structure of Pansophia reveal three-dimensional characteristics of education. It is characteristic that shows the whole at a glance. These characteristics include the organic combination of each elements. And it makes to enable Creative production.
In conclusion, the structure of Pansophia shows the source of all things, the means of existence, the purpose of existence. At the same time, it shows the human role in education. Namely, the structure of Comenius' Pansophia is the core structure of(ek), by(dia), for(eis) education, in association with the source, the means of existence and the purpose of existence of all things.