Philanthropinism comes from the Greek φίλος (friend) and άνθρωπος (human). It was an educational reform movement in the Age of Enlightenment in the German-speaking area, established in the second half of the eighteenth century. The programme aimed at educating a new man and at the same time at reforming society. 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.

Johann Bernhard Basedow was a German educational reformer, teacher and writer. He founded the Philanthropinum, a short-lived but influential progressive school in Dessau, and was the author of "Elementarwerk", a popular illustrated textbook for children.