Education as Synesis: A Hermeneutical Contribution to the Pedagogical Theory of Educational Practice

Synesis, a category mentioned by Aristotle in the sixth book of his Nicomachean Ethics, is, along with phronesis, a fundamental concept of ethics as a human reflection on moral action. Through a hermeneutical methodological approach, this paper will demonstrate how synesis, a concept scarcely studied by scholars in the context of pedagogy and philosophy of education, represents a basic category both of pedagogical epistemology and educational practice, upon which one needs to reflect in order to understand the function and meaning of education and learning in a human perspective.