Philanthropinism

[2] The philanthropinists’ ideas of teaching children to become philanthropic, natural and rational beings are partly derived from the theories of childhood and education proposed by John Locke (1632-1704) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), among others.

[3] Basedow’s theorisation as well as earlier treatises on education stemmed from a desire of Enlightenment thinkers to transmit their political, social and moral ideals—which could be traditional but also innovative—to the next generation.

[6] In order to implement his philanthropinist ideas, Basedow wrote a booklet called "Das Noethigste aus der Vorstellung an Menschenfreunde" (Introduction of what is Important to Friends of Humanity (Philanthropists)) wherein her lays out his plans for a new series of illustrated books (later to become his Elementarwerk) and the founding of a school to utilize his education methods.

Robert Sumser summarises Basedow’s emphasis as being on a "cosmopolitan, nonconfessional, and pragmatic system of education [which] proved inspirational to a younger generation of pedagogues.

"[7] One of Basedow's fundamental concepts was that education occurs when the students are taught as much as possible in real life and application of the knowledge was highly important.

The subjects taught at the Philanthropinum were Mathematics, Languages: French, German and Latin, Eloquence, All religions, Craftwork, Sciences, Sports: Fencing and Gymnastics.