Bases Teoricas de La Educacion Personalizada
Bases Teoricas de La Educacion Personalizada
Bases Teoricas de La Educacion Personalizada
La
educación personalizada desde Leonardo Polo
The promotion of human coexistence:
Personalised education from Leonardo Polo
Dr. Javier PÉREZ GUERRERO. Profesor Titular. Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (javier.perez@unir.net).
Dra. Elda MILLÁN GHISLERI. Profesora Titular. Universidad Villanueva (emillan@villanueva.edu).
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Javier PÉREZ GUERRERO y Elda MILLÁN GHISLERI
mutual reference or intrinsic opening enables and learning are intersubjective or social man-
personalised educational growth, which is in- ifestations that are peculiar to the essence of
trinsic or habitual perfecting, thus preventing each human being, given that teaching and
learning and teaching from becoming discon- learning happen in living-with others, with
nected as parallel processes that are only co- the performance of individual tasks in a sec-
incidentally related. Personalised education, ondary position.
inspired by Leonardo Polo, is understood as a
perfecting in common of educators and learn- Keywords: transcendental anthropology, du-
ers that each of them achieves in duality with ality, essential improvement, habits, personal-
the other. In personalised education, teaching ised education, Leonardo Polo.
esta concepción pedagógica de raíz cris- na humana es «la referencia explícita del
tiana, una educación personalizada no sujeto de la educación» (García Hoz, 1997,
consiste solo en un aprendizaje persona- p. 103). La educación personalizada es una
lizado desarrollado a través de experien- «educación referida a la persona» (García
cias programadas, como las descritas por Hoz, 1993, p. 32), de modo que no es un
Coll, Esteban-Guitart e Iglesias (2020), método pedagógico (Arancibia, 2018), sino
de indudable valor metódico. Tampoco es «un modo de ver la educación a través de
una estrategia de marketing adaptada a la realidad más profunda del hombre, que
la nueva identidad del consumidor (Hart- es su condición de persona» (García Hoz,
ley, 2007; Peters, 2009), ni una educación 1997, p. 105).
meramente individualizada. De hecho, la
expresión «educación personalizada» em- García Hoz no dedicó demasiada li-
pezó a emplearse para diferenciarla de teratura a temas estrictamente filosófi-
aquella (García Hoz, 1993). La educación cos (destacando en este punto el tratado
personalizada es un ida y vuelta efusivo Cuestiones de filosofía individual y social
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La promoción de coexistencia humana. La educación personalizada desde Leonardo Polo
minamos ese estatuto intersubjetivo de la que el estatuto de esas notas debe ser tan
educación, que depende en última instan- trascendental como la persona o coexisten-
cia de la estructura donal de la persona, te humano. A partir de aquí podremos con-
el enseñar y el aprender no se acompañan siderar la educación personalizada como
y quedan disociados en actividades parale- un perfeccionamiento en común o con el
las. La persona, a través de la sindéresis, otro, es decir, como manifestación social de
como veremos, pone en funcionamiento o la esencia humana, de modo que enseñar
activa sus potencias específicamente hu- y aprender se conecten en una dualidad de
manas, pero ese proceso subjetivo es de- iniciativas en réplica mutua.
pendiente del entramado intersubjetivo o
social, es decir, del ser y el hacer con el otro
en el que se basa tanto la educación perso- 2. La ampliación trascendental
nalizada como la antropología de Polo. La ampliación trascendental que desa-
rrolló Polo es de tipo metódico en el senti-
Para aclarar esto, vamos a exponer, de do de que los trascendentales que estudia
modo muy sintético, lo que Polo entiende la metafísica clásica no eran apropiados,
por coexistencia, «que no es la pluralidad a su juicio, para alcanzar al ser personal:
de las personas, sino la ampliación tras- «el ser del hombre no es el ser del que se
cendental» (2017, p. 139). La coexistencia ocupa la metafísica» (2016b, p. 338). Pero
año 79, n.º 280, septiembre-diciembre 2021, 457-473
así considerada no es entre las personas, también tiene un sentido temático, pues-
sino recabada o poseída por cada una de to que la propia ampliación trascendental
ellas (2017). Coexistir es más digno que es la persona misma: «admitiendo que ser
existir (2016a) y se convierte con una se- y existir son expresiones equivalentes en
rie de trascendentales personales «que son metafísica, la antropología trascendental
superiores a los metafísicos» (ídem). Co- es la doctrina del co-ser humano o bien de
existencia implica dualidad. Por lo tanto, la coexistencia. El hombre no se limita a
revista española de pedagogía
a continuación, precisaremos el alcance ser, sino que co-es» (2016a, p. 42). Coexis-
trascendental que tiene la noción de duali- tir es «ser acompañándose» (2016b, p.
dad en el pensamiento de Polo. 356): «la intimidad, el ser como ámbito»
(2016b, p. 355).
La persona crece educativamente como
un sistema complejo de dualidades inter- La persona humana coexiste con el ser
dependientes, y debemos discernir entre de la metafísica justamente como su am-
ese crecimiento o perfección intrínseca y pliación (2016a). La metafísica, como dice
el ser personal, con el que se distingue de Aristóteles, es filosofía primera porque se
manera insalvable, y con el que forma una ocupa del principio. Pero «ser principio no
dualidad de alcance trascendental. Esto significa ser libre» (2016a, p. 35; 2016b,
nos permitirá realizar una revisión de la p. 338). Donde «se descubre la libertad, o
educación personalizada entendida como donde la libertad aparece, es, justamen-
extensión de las notas o radicales perso- te, en la antropología» (2016b, p. 339). El
nales en la vida de los estudiantes, puesto hombre es libre en cuanto es ser segundo,
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La promoción de coexistencia humana. La educación personalizada desde Leonardo Polo
futurizar el futuro (2016a, 2017), es decir, Es por ello que el método según el cual
que ser libre es mantener un futuro que no se realiza la ampliación trascendental es
se agota porque la libertad ajusta el paso denominado «abandono del límite men-
con él. La libertad es estar en franquía res- tal» (en una de sus vertientes), que es tan-
pecto al trascurrir temporal, de modo que to como decir abandono de la actualidad
la persona alcanza a ser acompañándose, a cognoscitiva (Polo, 2016a). El límite men-
ser íntimamente: «la co-existencia, la am- tal se detecta y abandona por medio del
revista española de pedagogía
sería capaz sin la inteligencia: «lo que se intrínseca, distinto realmente de él. Esta
suele denominar habilidad manual es la distinción debe ser respetada para esqui-
proyección de la inteligencia en las ma- var el error de considerar a la persona
nos» (2016b, p. 61)— o el uso del habla, como resultado del proceso de perfecciona-
que no estarían al alcance del sistema fó- miento educativo familiar o social. Es con-
nico humano (pulmones, garganta, boca, veniente evitar expresiones equívocas que
lengua, etc.) sin el hábito del lenguaje. Ni pueden ser mal interpretadas, como cuan-
revista española de pedagogía
escribir ni hablar en inglés son finalidades do se afirma que «la familia es el ámbito y
naturales, sino que requieren de hábitos ambiente natural donde el hombre se hace
adquiridos con la práctica, de incrementos persona» (García Hoz, 1993, p. 222). El
que son posibles gracias, precisamente, a proceso de personalización educativa «tie-
la actividad conjunta, en dualidad, de fac- ne su punto de partida en el alumno como
tores diversos. ser personal» (Vélez, 2003, p. 1).
entiende la esencia humana como común este sentido, es cierto que formar personas
(como hace García Hoz, 1970a), es decir, con una autonomía crítica y bien orienta-
como equivalente a la naturaleza humana, da que esquive la masificación, puede ser
sino como lo que cada persona consigue la tarea clave de la educación de nuestro
hacer suyo de dicha naturaleza, el rédito tiempo (García Hoz, 1970b): «enseñar a
que obtiene de ella: «la esencia del hombre elegir o educar para elegir bien es un obje-
es sencillamente la capacidad que tiene de tivo preciso de la educación personalizada»
autoperfección» (Polo, 2015b, p. 135). (1970a, p. 28). Pero, precisamente porque
depende de lo factible y de lo situacional,
No obstante, la relación que establece se trata de una extensión o manifestación
García Hoz entre esa singularidad y aspec- de la libertad personal íntima que no debe
tos como la originalidad, la vida interior, confundirse con ella. Gracias a los hábitos
la sencillez, la soledad o el silencio (Bernal que se adquieren al actuar, se es más libre
Guerrero, 1994), acercan esa noción a la en sentido moral, más íntegro, siendo la
intimidad personal. La intimidad personal, auténtica autonomía la de quien no subor-
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La promoción de coexistencia humana. La educación personalizada desde Leonardo Polo
dina lo ético a otras instancias (Ruiz Cor- que Polo considera como otro hábito in-
bella et al., 2012). nato dual (ver-yo y querer-yo), que viene
a ser como el ápice de la esencia humana
Y, respecto a la apertura, que según (2016a): el vértice que engloba y del que
García Hoz se desarrolla en tres niveles: dependen todos sus actos y hábitos adqui-
hacia el mundo, hacia los demás y hacia ridos. En ocasiones llama sindéresis a este
la trascendencia (Bernal Gerrero,1994), hábito, en especial cuando se refiere a su
Polo ofrece una vertebración según la cual segundo miembro, querer-yo (2016a).
las personas humanas se encuentran dia-
lógicamente en el mundo a través de sus Por último, según Polo, la persona tam-
manifestaciones esenciales que incluyen bién se abre interiormente como intimi-
la expresividad corporal y verbal (Polo, dad. Ahondando en esa intimidad se abre
2016a). En este nivel, esa apertura no es o, mejor, se orienta, hacia la trascendencia
trascendental y se tipifica socialmente, del inteligir divino (2016a), que le tras-
ocupando cada persona un lugar recono- ciende por completo.
cible por los demás en un mundo humano
estructurado que coordina sus diferentes Por todo ello, desde el pensamiento de
roles. Educar es un perfeccionamiento so- Polo, la educación personalizada se puede
cial en este sentido, puesto que perfeccio- describir como la ayuda prestada a la ma-
mezcla, es decir, que no alberga ningún in- fiesta en ella como libertad pragmática y
teligible, sino que es pura transparencia, moral (García González, 2011).
se iluminan intelectualmente los objetos.
Es esa transparencia del inteligir personal El crecimiento educativo irrestricto
la que se manifiesta en las operaciones de propio del ser humano, no solo se debe a la
conocer, que no se mezclan con sus obje- peculiar plasticidad que presenta la natu-
tos, sino que se ocultan precisamente para raleza humana, aunque sea condición ne-
destacarlos, y que, por decirlo así, siempre cesaria para ello (Altarejos y Naval, 2011),
juegan a favor de lo conocido sin imponer- «porque la persona añade a la naturaleza
se, así como en los hábitos intelectuales la dimensión efusiva, aportante» (Polo,
que les siguen. 2018, p. 212). La educación puede consi-
derarse como una necesaria continuatio
En ese crecimiento o refuerzo habitual naturae, pero, de un modo aún más radi-
de las potencias específicamente humanas cal, como una mediación imprescindible
radica la extensión de la libertad personal para la manifestación del espíritu, estando
que la educación personalizada busca ha- ambas perspectivas presentes en el pensa-
cer práctica como capacidad para dirigir la miento de García Hoz.
propia vida (García Hoz, 1953):
año 79, n.º 280, septiembre-diciembre 2021, 457-473
esencia de cada ser humano, manifestando dor y educando son sujetos entre los cuales
su carácter personal, íntimo y libre, y todo existen relaciones sobreañadidas y com-
ello no sería posible sin la educación. prender que lo «intersubjetivo está en cada
sujeto» (Polo, 2017, p. 140). De ahí que la
Para que se dé esa armonía entre facul- dualidad educador-educando, en tanto que
tades, el niño requiere de una normalidad personas, «no sea una suma, sino que cada
afectiva, que es el primer objetivo educa- uno es con-quien» (2016a, p. 139).
tivo, propio de los padres (2019). Por otra
parte, la sindéresis de los más jóvenes tie- Por lo tanto, podemos hablar de per-
ne que interesarse o volcarse en los asun- fecciones intrínsecas, esenciales, pero, a la
tos cruciales de la vida, y ello requiere de la vez, en común o en dualidad: perfecciones
ayuda de otra sindéresis: la del educador, que tiene cada uno, pero gracias al otro.
porque, de entrada, la situación del ser hu- Nadie participa en la educación personali-
mano es de debilidad y necesidad, y, en ese zada por su cuenta porque cada interven-
estado, los intereses son muy limitados y ción se abre a una correspondencia, debe
no permiten llevar adelante el proyecto per- ceder el paso a la siguiente, sin la que no es
sonal de vida al que tanto se refiere García posible o se frustra, de modo que tanto el
Hoz como objetivo de la educación perso- enseñar como el aprender se ejercen en un
nalizada (1993). Por este motivo, el interés espacio intersubjetivo recreado en común
citivo. Studia Poliana, 21, 73-95. https://doi. amistad]. Journal of Philosophy of Education,
org/10.15581/013.21.73-95 55 (2), 371-382.
García Hoz, V. (1953). Sentido personal de la edu- Peters, M. A. (2009). Personalization, personalized
cación. revista española de pedagogía, 11 learning and the reform of social policy: the
(43), 319-326. prospect of molecular governance in the digi-
García Hoz, V. (1962). Cuestiones de filosofía indi- tized society. Policy Futures in Education, 7
vidual y social de la educación. Rialp. (6), 615-627. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/
García Hoz, V. (1970a). Educación personalizada. pdf/10.2304/pfie.2009.7.6.615
Instituto de Pedagogía del C.S.I.C. Piá Tarazona, S. (2001). El hombre como ser dual:
García Hoz, V. (1970b). Principios de pedagogía sis- estudio de las dualidades radicales según la
temática. Rialp. antropología trascendental de Leonardo Polo.
García Hoz, V. (1993). Introducción general a una EUNSA.
pedagogía de la persona. Rialp. Polo, L. (2011). La distinción entre antropología y
García Hoz, V. (Dir.) (1997). Glosario de educación metafísica. Studia Poliana, 13, 105-117.
personalizada. Rialp. Polo, L. (2012). La persona humana como relación en
García Hoz, V. (Dir.), Palacios, L. E., Medina, R., el orden del Origen. Studia Poliana, 14, 21-36.
Forment, E., Román, M., Moreno, P., Marín, R., Polo, L. (2015a). Introducción a la filosofía. EUN-
Escámez Sánchez, J., Neira, T. R., Quintana SA.
Cabanas, J. M., Castañé, J. y Buj Gimeno, Á. Polo, L. (2015b). La esencia del hombre. EUNSA.
(1989). El concepto de persona. Rialp. Polo, L. (2015c). La persona humana y su creci-
Hartley, D. (2007). Personalization: The emerging miento. EUNSA.
‘revised’ code of education? [Personalización: ¿el Polo, L. (2016a). Antropología trascendental. EU-
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ción integral. San Pablo. que limita es la que libera | Education that li-
Martínez Priego, C. (2019). La familia como ámbi- mits is education that frees. revista española
to educativo. Afectividad y amores personales. de pedagogía, 77 (273), 213-228. https://doi.
Revista de Prepublicaciones del Instituto de org/10.22550/REP77-2-2019-01
Estudios Filosóficos LEONARDO POLO. Serie Rodríguez Sedano, A. y Aguilera, J. C. (2011). La
Filosófica, 60. https://bit.ly/3yk1IkS intersubjetividad a la luz de la apertura íntima
Orón Semper, J. V. (2018). Educación centrada en personal. Studia Poliana, 13, 31-49.
el crecimiento de la relación interpersonal. Romero-Iribas, A. M. (2018). Apuntes sobre el
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org/10.15581/013.20.241-262 ciudadanía, hoy. EDETANIA, 53, 169-183. Re-
Pérez Guerrero, J. (2020). La influencia pedagógica cuperado de https://revistas.ucv.es/index.php/
de la amistad en la educación del interés. Estu- Edetania/article/view/341/354
dios sobre Educación, 39, 297-315. https://doi. Ruiz Corbella, M., Bernal Guerrero, A., Gil Can-
org/10.15581/004.39.297-315 tero, F. y Escámez Sánchez, J. (2012). Ser uno
Pérez Guerrero, J. (2021). Personalised education mismo. Repensando la autonomía y la respon-
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ción personalizada como comunidad escolar de actual. Teoría de la Educación, 24 (2), 59-81.
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The promotion of human coexistence:
Personalised education from Leonardo Polo
La promoción de la coexistencia humana. La
educación personalizada desde Leonardo Polo
Javier PÉREZ GUERRERO, PhD. Associate Professor. Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (javier.perez@unir.net).
Elda MILLÁN GHISLERI, PhD. Associate Professor. Universidad Villanueva (emillan@villanueva.edu).
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Javier PÉREZ GUERRERO and Elda MILLÁN GHISLERI
evitando de esta manera que se disocien como pro- nes intersubjetivas o sociales propias de la esencia
cesos paralelos que se encuentran relacionados de de cada ser humano, en la medida en que se enseña
una forma meramente coincidental. La educación y se aprende conviviendo con otros y, secundaria-
personalizada inspirada en Leonardo Polo se en- mente, realizando tareas individuales.
tiende como un perfeccionamiento en común de
educadores y educandos que cada uno de ellos al- Descriptores: antropología trascendental, duali-
canza en dualidad con el otro. En la educación per- dad, crecimiento esencial, educación personaliza-
sonalizada, enseñar y aprender son manifestacio- da, hábitos, Leonardo Polo.
second volume of Tratado de Educación Per- (2018), Ahedo (2018), Martínez Priego (2019),
sonalizada. El concepto de Persona (Treatise and Pérez Guerrero (2020).
on personalised education: the concept of the
person) (García Hoz et al., 1989). This study specifically proposes that teach-
ing and learning in personalised education can
But with his proposal for a transcenden- be seen as exercises that have a strict corre-
tal expansion in anthropology, it is Polo “who spondence between each other or that mutu-
best captures and expands the findings on ally refer to one another insofar as teaching
intersubjectivity from the philosophical an- is teaching-someone and learning is learn-
thropologies of the 20th century” (Sellés, ing-from-someone.
2007, pp. 199-200), continuing in turn with
traditional transcendental metaphysics Naturally some notions can be acquired
(Polo, 2016a), without falling into what he without anyone teaching them, in the same
calls the symmetries that characterise mod- way that it is possible to try to teach without
ern approaches. Polo elaborates on the real anyone actually learning anything. Nonethe-
distinction between act of being and essence less, “learners who do not accept the person
that Thomas Aquinas was unable to adapt to who is educating might pick up some notions,
anthropology (Corazón, 2019). Consequently, but strictly speaking, they will not learn per-
anthropology is subordinated to metaphysics sonally, that is to say, they will not come to
words, on the being and doing with the other cal metaphysics were unsuitable for reaching
on which both personalised education and Po- the personal being: “the being of man is not
lo’s anthropology are based. the being with which metaphysics concerns it-
self” (2016b, p. 338). But it also has a themat-
To clarify this, we will very briefly explain ic sense, as transcendental expansion is the
what Polo understands by coexistence, “which person itself: “while admitting that being and
is not the plurality of people, but rather the existing are equivalent expressions in meta-
transcendental expansion” (2017, p. 139). Co- physics, transcendental anthropology is the
existence considered in this way is not between doctrine of human co-being or of coexistence.
people but is demanded or possessed by each Man does not limit himself to being but rather
one of them (2017). Coexisting is more wor- co-is” (2016a, p. 42). Coexistence is “accompa-
thy than existing (2016a), and converts itself nied being” (2016b, p. 356): “intimacy, being
through a series of personal transcendentals as scope” (2016b, p. 355).
“which are superior to metaphysical ones”
(idem). Coexistence implies duality. Therefore, The human person coexists with the be-
we will now set out the transcendental scope ing of metaphysics precisely as its expansion
of the notion of duality in the thinking of Polo. (2016a). Metaphysics, as Aristotle says, is first
philosophy because it concerns itself with
The person grows educationally like a principles. But “being the principle does not
year 79, n. 280, September-December 2021, 457-473
complex system of interdependent dualities, mean being free” (2016a, p. 35; 2016b, p. 338).
and must discern between that growth or Where “freedom is discovered, or where free-
intrinsic perfection and the personal being, dom appears, is, specifically, in anthropology”
from which it insurmountably distinguish- (2016b, p. 339). Man is free insofar as he is a
es itself and with which it forms a duality of second being, in other words, it is by adding
transcendental scope. This will enable us to oneself to the principial reality or to the being
review personalised education understood as as principle or as first (2016b).
revista española de pedagogía
ferent dimensions of reality (1993). But Polo’s than the principial being of metaphysics: it is
transcendental expansion allows us to exam- being-with and this is equivalent to being free.
ine this line methodically and in greater depth, The extramental being is the principle, cause,
understanding that this openness is an intrin- foundation, while the personal being is an
sic reference of each person, and not merely a addition, it is second being (García González,
relationship between them (Polo, 2017). 2008). The person “is in addition to the foun-
dation” (Polo, 2015a, p. 218). Anthropological
Polo reduces his concept of transcendental transcendentals are the ratification or affir-
expansion in anthropology to three fundamen- mation of metaphysical transcendentals.
tal theses (2011, 2016a, 2016b, 2017).
For this reason, the definition provided
Firstly, metaphysics with classical by Boethius who regards the person as
roots does not adequately consider the an individual substance with an intellec-
free being because it does not distinguish tual nature, is highly problematic, because
it sufficiently from the being that meta- substances are separate in themselves, “but
physics considers. Furthermore, it reduc- the irreducibility of the person is not isolating;
es anthropology to a secondary philoso- it is not separation” (2016b, p. 356). The per-
phy and freedom to a “merely categorical fection or superiority of the classical substance
matter” (2016, p. 35), but “a founded lies in its separation, but the superiority of the
the passage of time, so that the person is able other words, abandoning cognitive actuality
to be-accompanying itself, to be intimately: (Polo, 2016a). The mental limit is detected
“co-existence, the expansion of the order of and abandoned through habitual intellectual
the transcendentals, is the person, the irre- knowledge, which is superior to the operative
ducible intimacy insofar as it is attained: this kind (2016a). Personal reality fully escapes
attainment is inseparable from its being” objective or operative knowledge because the
(2016a, p. 136). being-with, the character that is intimate and
radically open to the other is not reduced to
Finally, a new method is required for for- the actuality and unity that typify the object.
mulating the anthropological transcenden-
tals, which are different from metaphysical Intimate coexistence and freedom are ul-
ones and do not involve mere symmetries or timately anthropological transcendentals that
changes of order. The human being-with is are not revealed by traditional philosophy,
transcendental, not as foundation, but as free, which reduces anthropology to a second or
because it performs operations through which regional philosophy. These transcendentals,
it achieves actuality (knowing or wanting in along with personal love and pure intellection
act) and, furthermore, it goes beyond it, it lets (which is not equivalent to the operation of in-
go of it (2016a). telligence nor to its habits), are converted with
the human personal being.
year 79, n. 280, September-December 2021, 457-473
not real), except for the trans-immanent, that cilable rival educational concepts, such as the
is to say, the free or spiritual (2016a). The op- theoretical and experimental (1993):
eration imposes a limit: knowledge is only pos-
Personalised education integrates North
sible in action or in presence, in other words,
American pragmatism with European specu-
what is operatively known is always that which
lative thinking, the inner life (humanism) with
is actual, that which is present. When noting the external life (realism), philosophy with po-
this limitation, it abandons itself ipso facto: it sitive science, technical training with ethical
starts from what is present but is transcended training … What is perhaps its truest gran-
by incessantly adapting to the future “without deur is found in this integration. (Bernardo,
defuturising it or anticipating it in the already Javaloyes, & Calderero, 2011, p. 55)
of presence” (Ferrer, 2012, p. 38).
In Principios de Pedagogía Sistemática
This is why the method by which transcen- (Principles of systematic pedagogy) García
dental expansion is done is called “abandon- Hoz uses an analytic method to deconstruct
ing the mental limit” (in one of its aspects), in and study the major common elements and
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The promotion of human coexistence: Personalised education from Leonardo Polo
laws that govern the pedagogical universe, plete whole and require the other owing
and a synthetic method to integrate these to their own partiality or limitation, which
common elements in various stages and meas- determines them. However, where there is
urements into the particular subject of the complete or integral totality, any growth is
varied phenomenon of education: the ped- prevented (Vargas, 2019).
agogical unit (Bernal Guerrero, 1994). He
bases his differential pedagogy (García Hoz, Polo understands that, in duality, one
1970b) on this integration, which is a prelim- member achieves greater perfection thanks
inary step towards his conception of person- to the other, precisely because being-with-the-
alised education. But he also applies this meth- other determines its own nature. This clearly
od to his study of the human, family, and social involves a new concept of potency (obediential
aspects related to education: potency, ultimately) (Polo, 2016a) that does
not imply imperfection but rather the capac-
Modernity is characterised, from the
ity to grow or give of oneself thanks to the su-
epistemological perspective, by erroneously
perior member of the duality that “does not
converting relationships of distinction and
complementarity — like those that must exist exhaust itself in its respect for that other,
between an organism and its surroundings, be- but that opens itself to a new duality” (2016a,
tween man and woman, between reason and p. 192). We speak of the superior member since
intuition, between mind and body, between us the teacher has learnt previously, has studied
are possible precisely thanks to the combined Starting from Polo’s anthropology, it can-
activity, in duality, of various factors. not be held that “the person is made as a per-
son, but is not completed” (Bernardo, 2019,
These habitual growths are the true ed- p. 54), because the person exceeds the causal
ucational topics. They are not simple compe- notion of the end. The personal being, the
tences aimed at specific tasks, but habits with- who, does not grow as a mere organism does,
out which the human system cannot integrate creating, in a manner of speaking, more organ-
itself because “it is destined to grow” (Polo, ism. As has been said, intimacy transcends the
2019, p. 156). In this way, the integrating notion of immanence. In anthropology and in
ambition of the different human dimensions education it is expedient to go beyond the Ar-
(corporeality, affectivity, will, and intelligence) istotelian tetracausal approach with the tran-
typical of personalised education is reinforced scendental personal being-growth duality or
(Bernardo, 2011). the intrinsic perfection of the person, which is
equivalent to its essence.
Duality has a transcendental value in Polo
(Piá Tarazona, 2001) and, as such, “it is a gain: With regards to the essential or predica-
it is superior to the monon” (Polo, 2016a, XV, mental order, the fundamental duality is the one
p. 45). Being one is what characterises the formed by the person’s manifesting availing-of,
thought-object, as Aristotle said, given that which is the intrinsic perfection that compris-
year 79, n. 280, September-December 2021, 457-473
the act of thinking is narrowly reduced to that es its essence (Polo, 2016a, 2017), and by what
which is thought (García González, 2019), is available, that is to say, those means that are
while the personal being is not one, but rather not part of it, but must be availed of in accor-
is in addition to the oneness and actuality that dance with it. From this duality, moral devi-
mark or limit the thought-object. ation can be understood as the attempt to
avail of one’s own availing-of, in other words,
The superior duality internal to the hu- to treat it as something available (2016a). For
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man being is that which is formed by the example, speech, which is part of the human
personal being and its essence, which is its availing-of, can be used duplicitously to lie or
growth or intrinsic perfection, truly distinct deceive.
from it. This distinction should be respected
to avoid the error of considering the person
as the result of the process of family or so- 4. Deployment of personal notes
cial educational perfecting. It is advisable to or manifestation of anthropological
avoid equivocal expressions that can be mis- transcendentals
interpreted, such as stating that “the family Personalised education sets out to
is the natural realm and environment where strengthen students’ personal notes and make
the human being becomes a person” (García them flourish (García Hoz, 1962), mediate
Hoz, 1993, p. 222). The process of education- their effective use so that “each person is capa-
al personalisation “has its starting point in ble, with the appropriate help, of formulating
the student as personal being” (Vélez, 2003, and carrying out … a personal, singular form
p. 1). of existence” (Bernal Guerrero, 1994, p. 254).
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García Hoz offers a first list of these Bernardo affirms that “the principles of
notes, namely singularity, openness, and the human person are, then, what gives it
autonomy (1970a), and, in a later expansion reason, its cause, those that make it a person”
that it is more a “statement of the essen- (Bernardo, 2019, p. 55).
tial content of these characteristics” (1993,
p. 172), he adds conscience and freedom as In this he follows the position of García
foundations of human dignity, as well as the Hoz, who, as we have seen, sometimes regards
principle being of intentional creative and the person as a pure perfection that can be
unifying activity (García Hoz, 1993; García realised more or less perfectly. On other occa-
Hoz et al., 1997). These notes are regarded sions he states that each individual is in the
as spiritual qualities “that ensure that one “sad position” (García Hoz, 1970, p. 247) of
is who one is and not another, those notes by being “an imperfect realisation of the person”
virtue of which a human being is a person” (idem) “through the imperfect use of freedom”
(García Hoz, 1962, p. 81). Subsequently, (García Hoz, 1970a, p. 27). Polo does not share
this group of notes has been reorganised by this position, which raises doubts about the ir-
authors following García Hoz who have ex- reductibility and radicality of the person.
plicitly characterised them as foundational
principles of the person (Bernardo, 2011), or As we have said, in a principle, the list of
as constituent notes of the person (Bernardo, these distinctive notes is reduced to singular-
and, in this sense, it is silent and, at the same others, and towards transcendence (Bernal
time, manifestative, because it assists or sup- Gerrero, 1994) — Polo offers a structure in
ports its essential manifestation as appeal, and which human people find themselves dia-
so this manifestation is not merely an aspect logically in the world through the essential
or external appearance (2016a). People call manifestations they include in corporeal and
upon us, enjoin us with their mere presence. verbal expressiveness (Polo, 2016a). At this
level, this openness is not transcendental and
García Hoz, following the traditional ap- is socially typified, with each person occupy-
proach, understands freedom as autonomy ing a place that can be recognised by others in
or self-mastery (1970a) and positions it as an a structured human world that coordinates
essential attribute of the will (1993). None- its different roles. Educating is a social per-
theless, for Polo, “the essence of man is freely fecting in this sense, given that it perfects
effusive, and this means that we can refuse coexistence by initiating young people in
to be effusion, we can deny. This is where the the different channels of collaboration and
‘yes-no’ distinction appears, which is derived” free manifestation, which possess their own
(2017, p. 74). In this way, autonomy, the capac- grammar (Pérez Guerrero, 2021) and their
ity to direct oneself thanks to that indetermi- own limits that must be respected (Reyero &
nacy or alternative, derives from transcenden- Gil Cantero, 2019).
tal freedom through the habits that integrate
year 79, n. 280, September-December 2021, 457-473
the essence of each man and allow him a free According to Polo, openness towards the
disposition that is neither arbitrary nor un- physical universe ultimately depends on an in-
consciously instigated. In this sense, it is true nate habit, the habit of the first principles. But
that educating people with a critical and well openness to the human world is operative, it is
oriented autonomy that avoids generalisation, at the predicamental level, and it is culturally
might be the key task of education in our time and corporeally mediated. Consequently, it is
(García Hoz, 1970b): “teaching to choose or possible to speak of impaired people, in other
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teaching to choose well is a specific objective words, people whose physiological or psycho-
of personalised education” (1970a, p. 28). But logical deficiencies are just those of a person
precisely because it depends on what is feasi- who is not able to manifest itself or does so in
ble and situational it is an extension or man- a very limited way.
ifestation of the intimate personal freedom
that should not be confused with it. Thanks to Furthermore, the person who is open
the habits acquired when acting, one is freer in or turned outwards is properly the I, which
the moral sense, more complete, and authentic Polo considers as another dual innate habit
autonomy is that of one who does not subordi- (seeing-I and willing-I), which becomes the
nate the ethical to other instances (Ruiz Cor- pinnacle of the human essence (2016a): the
bella, 2012). apex encompassing all of its acquired acts and
habits and on which they depend. He some-
And, with regards to openness, which times calls this habit synderesis, especially
according to García Hoz claims develops at when referring to its second member, the will-
three levels — towards the world, towards ing-I (2016a).
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Finally, according to Polo, the person also The extension of the personal freedom that
opens itself internally as intimacy. Going deep- personalised education seeks to make practical
er in this intimacy it opens itself, or rather, as a capacity to direct one’s own life resides in
orientates itself, towards transcendence of the this growth or habitual strengthening of spe-
divine intellecting (2016a), that transcends it cifically human potencies (García Hoz, 1953):
completely.
The essence of man is not a fact, but ra-
ther a task of freedom that lasts for the whole
Therefore, in Polo’s thinking, personalised
life, namely: the growing conquest of depen-
education can be described as the help given dence of the human on the personal being.
to the manifestation of personal transcenden- This dependence is strictly the essence of the
tals. Personal love, which is transcendental, is human, but it is not static. Instead, it must be
manifested in voluntary willing and in raising conquered because the essence of the human
good to the category of a gift, an offering, as is only such insofar as it grows (if it did not
the ultimate end of love is not the good itself, grow, it would not depend on the person, and
but another love (García González, 2017) or if this growth were not free, it would not go
the loving game or recreation (Polo, 2017). beyond being that of a corporeal organism).
Without love, good would be reduced to the (Polo, 2018, p. 200)
final cause or order (Polo, 2011): there would
be no gifts or favours. Personal love also man- The person makes human nature its own,
spirit, with both of these perspectives present be carried forward (1993). For this reason, for
in the thinking of García Hoz. Polo interest is a principle of education (2019),
and its structural increase in the student is
one way to understand its principal purpose.
5. Education as a form of perfection To educate is to share the most valu-
in community or with-the other able human interests with young people; help-
This human plasticity is especially due ing them at the level of synderesis by helping
to the fact that its specific potencies, intelli- them adopt a global orientation towards what
gence and will, are passive potencies (2016a), is humanly valuable (Izaguire & Moros, 2007).
that is to say, that they are not spontane-
ously activated under particular conditions. Understood in this way, education is a
This passivity is precisely what makes them perfection in common that goes beyond ed-
liable to become habits, to act from ever bet- ucator and learner since neither of them
ter starting points, because another higher can provide themselves with it without the
instance that illuminates them activates other, or on their own account. And yet, it is
them: what Polo calls synderesis. Synderesis also a perfection that each of them demands
supports and observes the joint functioning and possesses. Educators perfect themselves
of the potencies so that it is harmonious, by helping students acquire these habits or
and can be corrected: synderesis illuminates intrinsic perfections, and students perfect
year 79, n. 280, September-December 2021, 457-473
the human faculties because “seeing-I and themselves by acquiring them with the help
willing-I are the two eyes that proceed from of the educator. We must leave behind the
the intimacy of coexistence” (2016a, p. 356). view that educator and learner are subjects
From synderesis, personal transcendentals between which there are superimposed rela-
strengthen or have an impact on the essence tionships and understand that the “intersub-
of each human being, manifesting its per- jective is in each subject” (Polo, 2017, p. 140).
sonal, intimate, and free character, none of And so the educator-learner duality, insofar
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which would be possible without education. as they are people, “is not a sum, but instead
each one is with-whom” (2016a, p. 139).
For this harmony between faculties to oc-
cur, the child requires an affective normality, Therefore, we can speak of intrinsic
which is the first educational objective, cor- perfections that are essential but at the
responding to the parents (2019). Moreover, same time, in common or in duality: per-
young people’s synderesis must take an in- fections that each one has thanks to the
terest in or throw itself into the crucial mat- other. Nobody participates in personalised
ters of life. This requires the help of another education on his own account because each
synderesis: that of the educator, because, intervention opens itself to a correspon-
firstly, the situation of the human being is dence, it must give way to the next one, with-
weakness and need, and, in this state, inter- out which it is not possible or is frustrated,
ests are very limited and do not enable the and so both teaching and learning are exer-
personal life project that García Hoz names cised in an intersubjective space recreated
as the objective of personalised education to in common by the educator and the learner,
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and are not a sum of isolated processes that To educate is not just to converse, as Jover
are coincidentally related. (1991) notes, since it is a task that pursues
its own objectives, but it is done through
Living-with as perfection in common dialogue, is channelled through it, and is
demanded by each of the people who live- directed towards it, given that people are
with is the area that connects learning and educated for dialogue. Educating is a back
teaching, each of which has its own tasks or and forth, a coming and going that only oc-
assignments, in personalised education. The curs in interdependence and cannot be re-
intrinsic perfection of a radically coexisting duced to a linear process (López Quintás,
being, as is the human person according to 1997).
Polo, is a growth in living-with and in capaci-
ty for living-with: coexisting more and better Personalised education is a learning-with
with the others. the teacher and a teaching-with the learner,
that is to say, personalised education sees
It is specifically by promoting the coex- learning and teaching not as individual acts,
istence of learners from younger generations but at the strictly intersubjective or social
that educators perfect themselves. Teaching level of the essence of each coexistent:
is oriented towards learning, but learning is
The personal openness of each indi-
also oriented towards teaching young people.
and achieve a certain plenitude with the na [Notes for a person-centered education].
Identitas Educativa.
other, promoting the alterity, the other-
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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0378-1060 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7933-6508
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