Wolfgang Brezinka Explained

Birth Date:9 June 1928
Death Place:Telfes, Tyrol, Austria

Wolfgang Brezinka (June 9, 1928 – January 3, 2020) was a German-Austrian educational scientist. He served as Professor of Pedagogy at the School of education of the University of Würzburg, as well as at the Universities of Innsbruck and Konstanz.

Career

Brezinka earned his doctorate in 1951 at the University of Innsbruck, and earned his habilitation at the same university in 1954. He taught at the School of education of the University of Würzburg (1958–1959), as well as at the Universities of Innsbruck (1960–1967) and Konstanz (1967–1996). His research activities led him to research and studies at Columbia University (1957–1958) and Harvard University. He was a guest professor at the Philosophical-Theological University of Brixen,[1] Italy, in 1983 and 1990. In 1984 he served as a guest professor at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, and in 1985 he was also a guest professor at the University of South Africa in Pretoria. He was a supporter of empirical-analytical educational science, or scientific pedagogy.

After retirement as a professor emeritus, he has done extensive research with the support of the Austrian Academy of Sciences on the history of the discipline of pedagogy in Austria, which he has published in a multi-volume work "Pädagogik in Österreich. Die Geschichte des Faches an den Universitäten vom 18. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert".

Theory

In his book "Metatheory of Education", Brezinka distinguishes three classes of educational theory: educational science, the philosophy of education and practical pedagogy.[2]

His texts have appeared in numerous editions and languages (including Chinese, English, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Czech). On this basis, Professor Brezinka can be regarded as the pedagogical thinker from the German-speaking world whose texts are the internationally most widely available in foreign languages.

As a practical pedagogue, he evaluates from a conservative viewpoint; as an educational scientist he has oriented himself in questions of scientific theory to the thinking of Viktor Kraft, Karl R. Popper, Hans Albert and Wolfgang Stegmüller. Orientation in educational analysis is provided by his widely quoted definition of the concept of education:

Private life

Wolfgang Brezinka was married to Erika Brezinka (born Schleifer); the couple had three children (Christof,[3] Veronika[4] and Thomas[5]).

Brezinka lived in Telfes im Stubai in the State of Tyrol, Austria. He died on 3 January 2020 in Telfes im Stubai.[6]

Honors

Selected works

Literature about Wolfgang Brezinka

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.hochschulebrixen.it/de/philosophisch-theologische-hochschule-brixen.html Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule in Brixen
  2. Wolfgang Brezinka: Metatheorie der Erziehung. (4., vollst. neu bearbeitet Auflage). Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, München 1978.
  3. http://kinderwunsch-zentrum.at/ao-Univ--Prof--Dr--Christoph-Brezinka?id=327#.UmTMexAeQUE Ao. Christoph Brezinka
  4. http://www.kjpd.uzh.ch/studium/ppkj/team/brezinka.html Veronika Brezinka
  5. http://www.thomas-brezinka.de/thomas-brezinka.de/Biographisches.html Thomas Brezinka (Biography in German)
  6. Obituary https://traueranzeigen.tt.com/traueranzeige/2020-01-07-wolfgang-brezinka-129277-1
  7. https://www.tu-braunschweig.de/suchoptionen/personen/hc Wolfgang Brezinka (Ehrendoktor 2001)
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk2TvsXHeis
  9. http://www.erziehungswissenschaften.hu-berlin.de/de/historische/team/ehemalige-mitarbeiterinnen/heinz-elmar-tenorth Heinz-Elmar Tenorth