The antinomies of the seventeenth century: between the search for a universal educational ideal and the theorization of the absolute state

The modern era is characterized by a series of contradictions, often left without adefinitive resolution. One of the most striking concerns the opposing tendency toseek unconditional freedom and the desire for absolute control. In this sense, theexamples of the philosopher Hobbes, theorist of the absolute state, and of thepedagogist Comenius, author of an educational theory centered on the idea offreedom, are paradigmatic.