The debate concerning the relation of the theory of education and the practice
of education is not new. In Germany, these discussions are an integral part of the development
of educational science in the eighteenth century which is closely connected to
Johann Friedrich Herbart and Friedrich Schleiermacher. Their concepts illustrate different
answers upon the question of how to connect theory and practice in education. And
although those answers are embedded in a very specific horizon of ethical and metaphysical
ideas, the problems which are addressed in those discussions are still important in
modern debates. The paper focuses upon the concepts of Herbart and Schleiermacher and
presents those theories in the problematic context of the possibilities and limitations of
educational theory and its importance for educational practice