Equal Opportunities and Dignity as Values in the Perspective of I. Kant’s Deontological Ethics: The Case of Inclusive Education

Abstract

The article attempts to reveal the correlation of values, attitudes and their place in the system of individual ant societal value development with maturity, culture, ideology and social domain (especially education) change areas and tendencies of the society which the person belongs to. The main thesis of the article – changing of values and their place in the conglomeration of societal values – presupposed the changing of educational domain and its tendencies, one of which is inclusive education. The minor thesis follows from the major one – persons, affected by disability (children, teenagers and youth), and their relatives still face difficulties in pursuing education: equal opportunities and dignity as values in individual cases are still to be achieved. After analysing the aspects of changes in special education, it becomes clear that the legal basis for regulation, established in the country, only in theory warrants equal opportunities for everyone pursuing education. Data from long-term studies show that disabled people often encounter difficulties in educational reality. Values, interpreted from the perspective of Kant’s deontological ethics and categorical imperative and declared in normative documents regulating the educational system, in reality have not reach the rank of basic values: in the process of education disabled people are nevertheless occasionally ignored and discriminated.