I don’t know German, but it sounds like the thing you mean by “Bildung” is something like “self-development”.
Let me know if this sounds like the right idea:
If you want to be an excellent person, strong in various capacities, mature and able, then you want to think for yourself, and always keep looking for deeper/subtler/more powerful insights. There’s a mental move of “yes, okay, but it could be even better” or “this is too easy, it’s boring” that makes it seem unappealing to remain stuck in dogma. You don’t want to flatten yourself or reduce yourself to a stereotype; you want to broaden and deepen your capacities.
The opposite mindset would be something like “I want to be Done, with all the thinking, forever, please don’t make me get up from where I’ve plopped down. I’m on the side of the angels, and That is That.”
I don’t know German, but it sounds like the thing you mean by “Bildung” is something like “self-development”.
As far as I understand especially in the US the term self-development is bend up with the American dream. It’s about developing capabilities to turn the dream into reality.
On the other hand “Bildung” can be for it’s own sake and only includes art and literature that have no practical usage.
I don’t know German, but it sounds like the thing you mean by “Bildung” is something like “self-development”.
Let me know if this sounds like the right idea:
If you want to be an excellent person, strong in various capacities, mature and able, then you want to think for yourself, and always keep looking for deeper/subtler/more powerful insights. There’s a mental move of “yes, okay, but it could be even better” or “this is too easy, it’s boring” that makes it seem unappealing to remain stuck in dogma. You don’t want to flatten yourself or reduce yourself to a stereotype; you want to broaden and deepen your capacities.
The opposite mindset would be something like “I want to be Done, with all the thinking, forever, please don’t make me get up from where I’ve plopped down. I’m on the side of the angels, and That is That.”
Does that seem like the thing you’re pointing at?
As far as I understand especially in the US the term self-development is bend up with the American dream. It’s about developing capabilities to turn the dream into reality.
On the other hand “Bildung” can be for it’s own sake and only includes art and literature that have no practical usage.