Philosophy of Education

The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 and the possibility of using this for free by Internet users was undoubtedly a groundbreaking event that had a huge impact on various areas of life. Focusing on education, and especially on the Prussian model of teaching in Poland, one can be tempt ed to compare this phenomenon to the Big Bang. Almost a year after the debut of ChatGPT, as public awareness of this tool grows, a new model of education is slowly (...) emerging from the “post-explosion matter”. This article aims to draw attention to the challenges posed by the AI era to education, and in a broader perspective – to social epistemology and the social responsibility of science. The paper briefly discusses AI tools, including generative language models. It also analyzes the pros and cons associated with their use by society, especially by students, with a partic ular focus on ChatGPT. The article presents a preliminary analysis of the openness of the Prus sian model of education to the adoption and adaptation of generative models of artificial intelligence. Areas have been indicated which may be changed so profoundly that it will be necessary to redefine the goals, methods and relationships accompanying the educational process. As an example, the relationship between student and teacher is considered. The main advantages and disadvantages of using generative models in education are discussed, thus justifying the need to introduce systemic changes in this area. (shrink)

In this article, we investigate the ethical conditions of online education by extending Levinas’ concept of the ‘face’. Considering the ‘face’ of the other raises the question of what it is we see when communicating online—is it the face of the other, or something else? How does this perception constitute the other for ‘me’? Can we access the ethical dimension of experience in online communication? To describe the ‘face’ we encounter in online educational settings, we introduce the concept of ‘interface’: (...) the presentation of the other in something other than their body. We argue that in online settings, the interface becomes the entry point for ethical pedagogy. Importantly, we do not argue that online teaching is preferable to other forms of teaching. Instead, we aim at sharpening the view of the limits and possibilities of online teaching. (shrink)

Drawing on Courtney Jung’s structural theory of obligation, this article proposes a novel interpretation of the relationship between liberal democratic justice and identity politics. This interpretation, in turn, justifies an anti-racist curriculum in the context of liberal democratic education. According to Jung’s theory, the liberal state has an obligation to improve the status of oppressed identity groups in society in so far as the state itself has participated in the formation of their identities through historical and continuing structural injustices. Based (...) on this theory, the article argues that anti-racist education should be understood as receiving its justification not from the recognition of particularistic identities as such, but from the state’s obligation to compensate for the structural injustices, which have contributed to the formation of the identities in question, and which are incompatible with liberal democratic justice. Furthermore, the article elaborates on a form of anti-racist curriculum broadly compatible with the liberal democratic aim of fostering political and personal autonomy of students. (shrink)

This article explores two pedagogical virtues (intellectual virtues of a teacher) that arise from the insight that non-epistemic situational factors can affect students’ epistemic judgements and behaviour. First, a virtuous teacher must be sensitive enough to these factors in order to take advantage of how they boost student learning. However, while cultivating a situationally and epistemically favourable environment for learning sounds sensible, teachers should not spoil their students by making them too dependent on these beneficial external factors. The virtuous teacher (...) must also realize that these are only scaffolds; they do help students initially, but must eventually be removed to promote the students’ intellectual autonomy. This characterizes a second pedagogical virtue: the competence to facilitate students’ growth so that they become more capable in future opportunities for knowledge acquisition. (shrink)

This article explores an educational philosophy centred around the notion of ‘dwelling’. Building on the analysis of Heidegger, Roth, Dewey, Emerson, and Haraway, the article reflects on how ‘dwelling’ foregrounds a certain quality of engagement with the present as the focal point of educational theory and practice. To this end, it considers how the concept of ‘dwelling’ can contribute to the development of present-oriented theoretical perspectives in education. In particular, the article seeks to explore the potential of ‘dwelling’ to offer (...) a non-individualistic notion of ‘being present’ in the context of education, with special emphasis on the question of how ‘being present’ might be understood in community with others who are fundamentally different from us. Additionally, drawing from Roth’s example of a science education oriented towards ‘rooting’, and Murdoch’s thinking around ‘unselfing’ through aesthetic experience, the article contemplates how ‘dwelling’ might be cultivated in and through education. (shrink)

My goal in this project is to understand how traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) manifests—or fails to manifest—in environmental education policy issued by the Ministry of Education in Oman. I also seek to explore whether there are cultural pressures in Omani society to overlook TEK in environmental education policy. Specifically, my aim is to understand how forces of globalization interact with TEK in Oman and whether these forces are behind the tendency to unknowingly ignore TEK when designing the Environmental Education Policy. (...) Drawing on critical decolonial studies, post-Heideggerian philosophy, and environmental education pedagogy, this article investigates the Policy of Environmental Education for Sustainable Development in Oman, which is a government document issued by the Ministry of Education in 2012 as a blueprint for designing environmental education curricula in Oman. My analysis of the policy reveals that there is both a tension with and a potential for a pluriversal approach—one that embraces the coexistence and mutual enrichment of scientific knowledge and TEK in environmental education. While the focus on scientism has historically marginalized TEK, this article argues for a pluriversal framework that values multiple ways of knowing. By fostering a dialogue between these knowledge systems, environmental education can become more inclusive, holistic, and ecoculturally sustainable. I argue for honouring indigenous world-views and celebrating the manifestations of our ecological heritage by integrating TEK into a land-based pedagogy that works alongside scientific perspectives, promoting a richer understanding of the environment. (shrink)

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan’s 2021 paper ‘The Gender Wars, Academic Freedom and Education’ holds that activism associated with the slogan ‘trans women are women’ harms progress towards the goals of shared learning and knowledge production. They hold that shared learning and knowledge production ground the value of the university. In response, we point out that academic freedom is not absolute, and that its contribution to learning and knowledge production is only part of a host of academic goods. Given the (...) hostile environment faced by trans people in the UK, absolute academic freedom in relation to questions about sex, gender, and gender identity should not be taken for granted. The focus of this article is on the following: (1) academic freedom is not absolute and should be responsibly curtailed when it causes harm, or hinders other educational goods; (2) public perceptions of ‘gender debates’ in the UK cause harm and hinder other educational goods; (3) academic debates about sex, gender, and gender identity could contribute to this harm and hindrance and should be undertaken only with care. (shrink)

This article explores the role that can be played by philosophy education in Ethiopia as a means to develop a shared meaning that is able to go beyond the ethnic polarization that is currently haunting the nation. It shows that through the introduction of a philosophy education that fosters a culture of critical reflection, dialogue, and reflection on the nature of human existence, human values, and a moral fabric that is able to bestow a sense of a common purpose on (...) the lives of individuals, one can develop a shared conception of meaning in the Ethiopian context. This reflective exercise, made possible by philosophy education, can lead into the bridging of ethnic divisions and a process of intercultural understanding that is able to introduce commonly shared normative systems. In a nation like Ethiopia that is being plagued by ethnic divisions rooted in the system of ethnic federalism, philosophy education can provide a foundation for social cohesion and ethical deliberation that leads into the creation of an inclusive society grounded on the development of a shared sense of identity. (shrink)

This article examines the often overlooked yet crucial role of care work within the academic ecosystem. Challenging the dominant paradigm that prioritizes research output, the article argues for recognizing academic labour as a spectrum where teaching, research, and service hold equal value. Drawing on Rajan’s framework of ‘academic care work’, the article demonstrates the inseparable link between care and knowledge, highlighting how care work forms the foundation for knowledge production and reproduction. The analysis situates academic care workers within the complex (...) administrative landscape of higher education institutions, exploring the challenges posed by managerialism and external pressures. The article introduces the ‘Argument from Shared Paradigm’, positing that academics, through their shared experiences and values, are uniquely positioned to advocate for and safeguard care-centred practices in research and teaching. By recognizing care work’s essential contributions, this article calls for a re-evaluation of academic reward systems and a shift towards a more inclusive academic culture. (shrink)

This article explores Biesta’s recent revisiting of his iconic and at times contested notion of education as subjectification. First, I look at how Biesta presents his notion by attending to his answers to the criticisms it has faced concerning elusiveness, oversimplification, and self-centredness. Then, going beyond the declarative level, I explore a concrete example of education as subjectification from Biesta’s 2022 book, World-Centred Education. Analysing the example of Homer Lane and Jason, I examine the ambivalence between Biesta’s explicit statements on (...) subjectification as a form of spontaneous and noncoercive teaching aimed at cultivating freedom and the more complex picture that emerges from a close reading of the original story. From this analysis, I find important conceptual limitations to education as subjectification: it could conceal part of the institutional context of education and the teacher’s active role, and also reduce freedom to an individualistic concept. I thus conclude by suggesting that the language of subjectification should always be engaged with critically—but never in isolation—and with a stereoscopic optic in mind. (shrink)

This article argues that, as applied to education, the Capabilities Approach pioneered by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum shares a range of philosophical commitments with the work of social realist scholars on the concept of ‘powerful knowledge’. I first trace the history of the concept of powerful knowledge and present critiques put forward by social justice scholars. I then outline the Capabilities Approach, arguing it provides a response to some of these concerns. From here I develop the connection between the (...) two educational paradigms focusing on four areas of affinity. The first is the conceptual similarity between the ‘power’ of powerful knowledge and Nussbaum’s account of a capability. The second is their concern with the reduction of education to technical-instrumentalism, human capital, and other economically driven imperatives. The third is a shared focus on the link between knowledge, human agency, and freedom. The fourth, is a mutual rejection of relativism and embrace of a nuanced universalism. Ultimately, by drawing together these two conceptually rich approaches to the aims and purposes of education, I hope to open a space for theorizing about both capabilities and powerful knowledge that can resolve some of the problems in both. For powerful knowledge, the Capabilities Approach allows a more concrete explication of why access to disciplinary bodies of knowledge is of value to both individuals and society. On the side of the Capabilities Approach, engaging with the concept of powerful knowledge can help give a rationale for how educational knowledge fosters certain centrally important capabilities. (shrink)

Despite the many interpretive disputes regarding John Stuart Mill’s philosophy of education, there is wide agreement that Mill saw education as the most necessary and significant means of promoting human happiness. I challenge this view by claiming that Mill belongs to a broad philosophical trend of his time that rejected the conception of human nature that stands at the foundation of the modern ideal of happiness according to which human freedom is expressed in the autonomous pursuit of self-satisfaction. Instead, he (...) embraced an understanding of humans as unique beings whose freedom is expressed in the development of original characters. I argue that the change in Mill’s perception of truth that occurred during his mental crisis led him to understand these processes as open—they are not subject to any static or universal purpose since freedom is understood as the ability of individuals to alter their purposes according to the internal changes they experience. My claim regarding the negation of happiness in Mill’s thought provides an answer to the question, largely neglected in the literature, of why, unlike many thinkers associated with the tradition to which he belonged, he chose not to elucidate the operative steps necessary to promote happiness in a book dedicated to education. I conclude by claiming that his use of the utilitarian lexicon is not accidental and does not reveal internal contradictions, but is a tactical move intended to enable the optimal conditions for creating significant change in people. (shrink)

According to some Philosophy for Children theorists, the pedagogy of the Community of Inquiry hinges upon the acceptance of a pragmatist epistemology. The underlying idea is that it is possible to participate, and to justify participation, in a community of inquiry only if some pragmatist view of truth and knowledge is true and accepted by the participants engaged in dialogue. In this article we argue that this claim is false. In this way, we want to free the pedagogy of the (...) Community of Inquiry from some epistemological assumptions that we regard as unwarranted. To support our contention, we shall highlight two distinctions that are important in order to appreciate the connection between epistemology and education: first, the distinction between the disposition of intellectual humility and the belief in fallibilism; second, the belief in the existence of Cartesian certainties and the attitude of psychological certainty. Finally, we also argue that to vindicate dialogic inquiry it is neither necessary to adopt a pragmatist theory of truth, nor is it necessary to regard warranted judgement as the primary aim of inquiry. In contrast, we argue that truth is the aim of inquiry, and so is the aim of children when they participate in a dialogic inquiry. In this way we also suggest a justification of philosophy with children that does not instrumentalize it. (shrink)

What does it mean to read in the digital age? Undoubtedly, how we consume information has radically shifted in the so-called ‘attention economy’ of the modern world. Surrounded by artificial technologies that force us to be ‘hyper-attentive’ to endless streams of information, the idea of reading as a slow and sustained process appears to many to have been displaced. In this paper, I complicate the belief that attention in reading is threatened by digital technologies. I do so by inviting readers (...) to think with Italo Calvino’s experimental work, ‘If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller’. This novel is precisely concerned with the nature of reading, and arose within the context of the then-burgeoning field known as the ‘digital humanities’. It does not offer us a straightforwardly cautionary or celebratory rendering of reading in the digital age, but instead, showcases reading in an ecological sense – namely, as that which has always involved (a) dynamic forms of attention, including what we might call ‘hyper’ as well as ‘sustained’ and (b) a deep and inescapable entanglement with the socio-material world. With Calvino, I argue that this ecological view better captures the complexity of reading in the digital age, insofar as it undermines the monolithic view of reading suggested in concerns surrounding these perceived threats of digitization, and thereby allows us to rethink the implied binaries between the natural and the artificial in educational practices and experiences. (shrink)

This essay explores the practice of translation, in dialogue with Rosenstock-Huessy’s sociological philosophy. The intention is to reinvigorate his concept of ‘speech-thinking’ and shed light on the intricate relationship between language, thought, and reality. Through an exploration of translation’s position at the interface of cultural otherness, we argue that speech-thinking offers deep analytical insight into the inner-workings of human existence. To support our argument, we delve into the speech of an immigrant subject within the dimensions of time and space, in (...) Rosenstock-Huessy’s terminology. Applying his philosophy, we contend that understanding the other’s lived experiences requires a translational process. This process involves examining internalized differences and aspects of selfhood. Importantly, the process of speech-thinking not only requires a creative and translational space but also facilitates self-reflection and -articulation. This, in turn, prompts ethical and aesthetic discussion of pressing issues in educational research. Through the processes of speech-thinking and translation, we cultivate a liminal space that challenges conventional meanings and understandings. This space has the potential to open up new avenues for exploring diverse ways of knowing, feeling, and being, thereby enriching our understanding of human existence. (shrink)

These seven intimate, aphoristic talks were presented to a small group on Steiner's final visit to England. Because they were given to "pioneers" dedicated to opening a new Waldorf school, these talks are often considered one of the best introductions to Waldorf education. Steiner shows the necessity for teachers to work on themselves first, in order to transform their own inherent gifts. He explains the need to use humor to keep their teaching lively and imaginative. Above all, he stresses the (...) tremendous importance of doing everything in the knowledge that children are citizens of both the spiritual and the earthly worlds. And, throughout these lectures, he continually returns to the practical value of Waldorf education. These talks are filled with practical illustrations and revolve around certain themes--the need for observation in teachers; the dangers of stressing the intellect too early; children's need for teaching that is concrete and pictorial; the education of children's souls through wonder and reverence; the importance of first presenting the "whole," then the parts, to the children's imagination. Here is one of the best introductions to Waldorf education, straight from the man who started it all. German source: Die Kunst des Erziehens aus dem Erfassen der Menschenwesenhiet (GA 311). SYNOPSIS OF THE LECTURES LECTURE 1: The need for a new art of education. The whole of life must be considered. Process of incarnation as a stupendous task of the spirit. Fundamental changes at seven and fourteen. At seven, the forming of the "new body" out of the "model body" inherited at birth. After birth, the bodily milk as sole nourishment. The teacher's task to give "soul milk" at the change of teeth and "spiritual milk" at puberty. LECTURE 2: In first epoch of life child is wholly sense organ. Nature of child's environment and conduct of surrounding adults of paramount importance. Detailed observation of children and its significance. In second epoch, seven to fourteen, fantasy and imagination as life blood of all education, e.g., in teaching of writing and reading, based on free creative activity of each teacher. The child as integral part of the environment until nine. Teaching about nature must be based on this. The "higher truths" in fairy tales and myths. How the teacher can guide the child through the critical moment of the ninth year. LECTURE 3: How to teach about plants and animals (seven to fourteen). Plants must always be considered, not as specimens, but growing in the soil. The plant belongs to the earth. This is the true picture and gives the child an inward joy. Animals must be spoken of always in connection with humans. All animal qualities and physical characteristics are to be found, in some form, in the human being. Humans as synthesis of the whole animal kingdom. Minerals should not be introduced until twelfth year. History should first be presented in living, imaginative pictures, through legends, myths, and stories. Only at eleven or twelve should any teaching be based on cause and effect, which is foreign to the young child's nature. Some thoughts on punishment, with examples. LECTURE 4: Development of imaginative qualities in the teacher. The story of the violet and the blue sky. Children's questions. Discipline dependent on the right mood of soul. The teacher's own preparation for this. Seating of children according to temperament. Retelling of stories. Importance of imaginative stories that can be recalled in later school life. Drawing of diagrams, from ninth year. Completion and metamorphosis of simple figures, to give children feeling of form and symmetry. Concentration exercises to awaken an active thinking as basis of wisdom for later life. Simple color exercises. A Waldorf school timetable. The "main lesson." LECTURE 5: All teaching matter must be intimately connected with. (shrink)

The relevance of this study's topic is supported by the argument that a philosophical understanding of the fundamental concepts of epistemology as they pertain to the educational process is crucial as the educational setting becomes increasingly digitalised. This paper aims to explore the epistemological component of the philosophy of learning in light of the educational process digitalisation. The research comprised a sample of 462 university students from Kazakhstan, with 227 participants assigned to the experimental and 235 to the control groups. (...) The research employed a scientific methodology that encompassed various scientific methods, including sociological, socio-philosophical, and culturological analysis. In addition, philosophical methods such as system analysis, structural and functional analysis, and comparative and hermeneutical approaches were utilised for the philosophical and epistemological interpretation of the cognitive activity mechanism of students and its dynamics in light of digitalising education. Furthermore, psychological diagnostic methods such as SAMOAL personality self-actualisation diagnostics, personality volitional potential diagnostics, and psychodiagnostic methods were employed. This study offers a theoretical rationale for the integration of digital technology in the realm of education, grounded in philosophical and epistemological principles. In addition, it challenges the null hypothesis that the philosophical and epistemological framework of the educational process does not influence its cognitive and personal aspects. Digital learning has been found to improve both cognitive and personal aspects of the learning process. All indicators of self-realization increased statistically significantly (p 0.05). The positive impact of digital technologies on increasing the communicative competence of students can be considered as a factor in mitigating epistemic risks in the learning process.The findings can be used to avoid epistemological risks and improve learning effectiveness in a digital learning environment. There are plans to investigate the gender dimension of digital learning epistemology in the future. (shrink)

This paper examines the educational experiences of 25 refugee youth aged 16 to 26 from 9 different countries currently living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, all of whom had experienced interrupted schooling before arriving in Canada. Data were collected through one-to-one interviews. We draw on the theories of transnationalism and intersectionality to analyze the data. We found that language, gender, trauma, and social attachment are the most prevalent challenges affecting the youths’ settlement and education experiences. We conclude with recommendations for educational (...) institutions and settlement agencies about how to support refugee youth in their formal education. (shrink)

Although the diversity of philosophy is increasing at the undergraduate level, there is still a significant gap between the percentage of underrepresented students that major in philosophy and the percentage that complete PhDs. With the support of a seed grant from the American Philosophical Association, we created four chapters of a mentoring program that provided underrepresented undergraduates with support for considering and applying to graduate school. After completing a year of the program, the majority of surveyed mentees reported that they (...) had an increased sense of belonging within philosophy, were more likely to take additional philosophy classes, were more likely to apply to graduate school in philosophy, and were more likely to pursue a career that has some connection to philosophy. In this paper, we consider not only the benefits of the program, but also provide a guide for those who are considering creating mentoring programs at their home institutions. (shrink)

How has artificiality been imagined and circumscribed in works of fiction? For this paper, I answer the question by utilizing three of Miguel de Unamuno’s early works to explore artificiality and authenticity. From Amor y pedagogia (Love and Pedagogy [LAP]) to Del sentimiento trágico de la vida (The Tragic Sense of Life [TSL]) to Niebla (Mist), Unamuno explored questions about being, not being, and the possibility of ‘being-beyond’ that situated artificiality in relation to learning and schooling. I argue that philosophy (...) of education can learn from Unamuno’s use of chiasmus and irritation to question artificiality. (shrink)

Recent developments in generative artificial intelligence brought a renewed interest in representations of humans, especially puppets, in literature and in popular culture. In this article, following Giorgio Agamben’s paradoxical claim that the human can truly appear in what is not human – in a puppet, I examine the famousmarionette-turned-boy – Pinocchio. Curious about his wish to become a ‘real boy’ and about his educational path toward this goal, I read the story as an expression of complex social anxieties and hopes (...) concerning naturalness and artificiality. Examining Pinocchio’s adventures from three critical perspectives: (1) Marx’ concept of commodity fetishism, (2) Hannah Arendt’s concepts of work and artificiality, and (3) the post-humanist critique of human superiority, I discuss education’s role in confronting the artificial/natural tension or in failing to do so. Applying Agamben’s innovative and unstructured reading of Pinocchio as a guiding anarchic thread throughout the above three readings, I argue that both Pinocchio’s desire to become ‘real’ and the socializing education he is subjected to express a wish to eliminate his unique inbetweeness in favor of a stable and restricted identity. I further suggest that an education capable of acknowledging students’ possible inhuman traits, has an emancipating potential. (shrink)

This article explores the normative power of whiteness in education and how it can be countered. Bringing concepts from affect theory and critical studies of whiteness to bear, and working data gathered from white majority and non-white minority students in museum and classroom settings, we show how affect plays into whiteness as a structural formation. Analyses indicate that affect performs a foundational role in whiteness through arrangements which both abet and combat it. Also indicated are how injurious effects of whiteness (...) can be offset by way of relational pedagogies. The argument is made that relational pedagogies of whiteness create conditions of possibility for white and non-white students alike to confront effects of whiteness: unacknowledged advantages of privilege and painful effects of exclusion come into focus. Spaces of relation, particularly of affective relations, play into these pedagogies, countering these effects. Where whiteness remains unacknowledged however, its normative power prevails. (shrink)

This article looks at learning geographically, conceptualizing transformative learning as a site of gathering-revealing—that is, as a fundamentally relational and deeply affectual coming-together of ideas, histories, and doings. Re-articulating the stakes of the recent ontological turn in education in terms of encounters of difference put into play by the event, we outline evental learning, which stands in contrast to traditional models of propositional knowledge transmission and subjectification. With attention to spaces of attunement, hesitation, and dwelling as fundamental to transformative learning, (...) we examine the renewed Finnish curriculum for upper secondary education, arguing that evental learning is foreclosed through two seemingly incongruous ontological horizons: (1) from the perspective of being, where technological thinking reveals a world knowable, orderable, and intendable, and with it a willful subject that itself remains an available resource, and (2) from the perspective of becoming, where the learner is a subject of perpetual emergence and innovation, always moving on the edge of the event. The curriculum presents a valuable case for probing the tension between latent ideations of education as Bildung, or non-instrumental self-cultivation, and the demands of an increasing economization of education; and, further, the means by which the perspectives of being and becoming are woven together to handle such competing aims. (shrink)

Traditional ethical theories operate under the assumption that truth is stable, knowable, and actionable. This paper proposes a shift: an ethics not of correctness, but of cognitive disclosure. Drawing on the concept of Aletheia—truth as unconcealment—it introduces aletheic ethics as a normative model grounded in frame-awareness, reflexive responsibility, and epistemic curvature. Ethical acts are reframed as gestures of structural invitation: they are good not because they conform to rules or outcomes, but because they allow the cognitive frame behind the act (...) to become accessible to others. The paper outlines four principles—translucency, resonance, reflexivity, and curvature—and applies them across dialogue, pedagogy, AI, and conflict. It closes by arguing that morality in the age of frame-friction must be architectural. Truth does not arrive; it is allowed. (shrink)

The debate about the ethics of belief is a classic and it has given rise to wide-ranging debates in epistemology, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mind, as well as in ethics. In epistemology, the question is what the norms of belief are — should one believe what is true, what is well-evidenced, what is pragmatic or what? — and this question translates, in the philosophy of language, to a parallel question regarding what one should assert. Given that teaching (...) often works through assertion, it deserves to be asked in similar vein what the norms of teaching are, and in this paper Ben Kotzee explores the touchpoints between the ethics of belief, the ethics of assertion, and the ethics of teaching. He examines the ways in which teaching should be governed by the same norms as those that govern belief and assertions. He argues that the strongest contender to be the norm of teaching is a knowledge norm. (shrink)

Closed-mindedness is a characteristic trait of irresponsible believers. For this reason and others, educators should actively discourage closed-mindedness in their students. One way to do this is to cultivate its opposing virtue: open-mindedness. Drawing on the work of William Hare, Danielle Diver defends the status of open-mindedness as an epistemic virtue and explains why it is truth-conducive, even in epistemically hostile environments. Diver goes on to argue that open-mindedness is fundamental to the practice of philosophy and that teaching philosophy in (...) schools, especially through the methods of Philosophy for Children (P4C), is an effective way to cultivate open-mindedness in students. Teaching philosophy therefore has a valuable role to play in the education of responsible believers. (shrink)

The Covid-19 pandemic brought the importance of vaccination and public attitudes toward it firmly to the fore. However, vaccine hesitancy and refusal remain significant barriers to global uptake, with post-pandemic declines in routine immunization contributing to disease outbreaks worldwide. Research shows that education plays a vital role in vaccination acceptance. But, while vaccine hesitancy is higher in those with lower education levels, in affluent countries, vaccine refusal is more prevalent among the highly educated. This suggests it may stem from epistemic (...) vice rather than mere ignorance. Furthermore, not all concerns about vaccination are due to wrongheaded scientific beliefs. Some involve moral or religious claims about which seemingly reasonable people disagree. Given these complexities, should teachers promote vaccination? If so, should this extend beyond scientifically evidenced propositions to include the moral and civic virtues of immunization? Drawing on recent philosophical work on teaching controversial issues, Ruth Wareham argues that teachers are warranted in promoting both the scientific case for vaccine safety and efficacy and the moral case for vaccination qua civic duty. Indeed, she maintains that the case for teaching vaccination directively is particularly defensible since robust arguments can be made for it using either of the two most plausible positions on delineating and teaching controversial issues — namely, the epistemic criterion and the political criterion — as well as a pluralist approach that seeks to combine them. (shrink)

Whether open-mindedness (OM) counts as an admirable epistemic aim of education has been a surprisingly contentious matter. Skeptics point out that OM is only contingently truth-conducive and that open-minded students may be maladaptive to the hostile epistemic environment outside school. Here, Seunghyun Lee contends that, while these critiques are not without merit, they overlook the possibility of epistemic inhospitality within classrooms, and so mischaracterize the significance of open-mindedness in education. Viewing malicious forms of credibility influence — namely from echo chambers (...) and epistemic preemption — as a serious deterrent against our educational efforts, Lee argues that these epistemic practices point to the necessity of open-mindedness in education and, simultaneously, to its difficulty. He concludes by analyzing and offering potential strategies for classroom-based instruction. (shrink)

AI tutors are promised to expand access to personalized learning, improving student achievement and addressing disparities in resources available to students across socioeconomic contexts. The rapid development and introduction of AI tutors raises fundamental questions of epistemic trust in education. What criteria should guide students' critical assessments of the epistemic trustworthiness of these new technologies? And furthermore, how should these technologies and the environments in which they are situated be designed to improve their epistemic trustworthiness? In this article, Nicolas Tanchuk (...) and Rebecca Taylor argue for a shared responsibility model of epistemic trust that includes a duty to collaboratively improve the epistemic environment. Building off prior frameworks, the model they advance identifies five higher-order criteria to assess the epistemic credibility of individuals, tools, and institutions and to guide the co-creation of the epistemic environment: (1) epistemic motivation, (2) epistemic inclusivity, (3) epistemic accountability, (4) epistemic accuracy, and (5) reciprocal epistemic transparency. (shrink)

Recent calls by legislators to exclude “divisive concepts” and histories from our curricula pose a challenge to the development of students' epistemic responsibility and agency in classrooms. In this paper, Martha Perez-Mugg examines the classroom as a space for the development of epistemic responsibility, ultimately suggesting that digital literacy and civic reasoning skills underpin students' development as responsible epistemic agents. In doing so, she connects epistemic responsibility to civic reasoning and digital literacy as central aspects of democratic deliberation. Further, she (...) offers a social epistemological framework for understanding the classroom as a core venue for the development of epistemic responsibility. In the end, Perez-Mugg explores the pedagogical implications that might arise from a deep commitment to cultivating epistemic responsibility for students. (shrink)

This paper examines the relationship between educators' epistemic character and their professional responsibilities, arguing that the role of educator carries unique epistemic obligations. Drawing on virtue epistemology and the ethics of belief, Jeff Standley contends that these obligations stem from education's core epistemic aims: cultivating knowledge and understanding, teaching reliable methods of inquiry, and fostering intellectual virtues. The paper demonstrates how educators' epistemic character influences their ability to navigate complex epistemic environments, serve as role models, and avoid impediments to teaching (...) caused by evidentially unsupported beliefs. While acknowledging that perfect epistemic character is unattainable, Standley argues for a “good enough” standard where educators must at minimum avoid significant intellectual vices that could hinder responsible epistemic inquiry and harm student development. He concludes by considering practical implications for educator recruitment and development, advocating for greater attention to epistemic qualities in these processes. (shrink)

Like other papers in this symposium, this essay approaches the question of responsible belief through the lens of social epistemology: what are the processes by which knowledge claims, evidence, perspectives, and arguments get shared within knowledge-making communities? In this paper, Nicholas Burbules argues that these processes are essentially communicative, and that we need to examine the conditions that make such communication knowledge-productive. Among these conditions are the enactment of communicative virtues: skills, attitudes, habits, and dispositions that are more likely to (...) support responsible dialogue and deliberation about knowledge claims. In this argument, each of these communicative virtues is actually a cluster of interrelated qualities, not a laundry list of discrete items. Burbules explores how these virtues are learned and enacted in practice, not things that people “have” or possess. Finally, he discusses a number of potential candidates for consideration as communicative virtues. (shrink)

How should Deweyan educators teach their students about engaging in efforts to bring about social change in a political context marked by polarization, power differentials, and oppression? In this article, Joshua Forstenzer argues that Deweyan educators must encourage their students to engage in pluralistic and creative experiments rather than teach a pre-set model for social change. To this end, he engages with two critiques: one formulated by Lee Benson, Ira Harkavy, and John Puckett according to which Dewey's pedagogic vision failed (...) to be sufficiently practically minded; the other formulated by Aaron Schutz — drawing on Saul Alinsky's theory of community organizing — according to which Deweyan educators fail to be meaningfully politically minded, because their democratic faith blinds them to the role of conflict in real politics. In response, this article argues that the Deweyan outlook is closer to Alinsky's than Schutz assumes and that it demands that we Deweyan educators introduce our students to a rich diversity of voices and traditions that address the concrete conditions of social change to provide our students with a fullness of civic experiences, as well as a depth of political and social ideas to challenge the status quo. (shrink)

For at least half a century, there has been a broad consensus that indoctrination is a pernicious form of miseducation and a distinctive vice of teaching. In recent years, a number of educational theorists have sought to cast doubt on this view. They suggest that the attention traditionally given to the threat of indoctrination, and the anxiety induced by it, are significantly misplaced. Here, Michael Hand distinguishes three forms of indoctrination skepticism — the impossibility objection, the unavoidability objection, and the (...) desirability objection — and argues that all three miss their mark. A fourth challenge to the standard view — the third-party objection — does not downplay the threat of indoctrination but does deny that it is a distinctive vice of teaching. Hand contends that this objection too is unpersuasive and concludes that the standard view is the correct one. (shrink)

The popular trend of manifesting involves supposedly making something happen by imagining it and consciously thinking it will happen in order to will it into existence. In this paper Laura D'Olimpio explains why manifesting is a form of wishful thinking and argues that it is an epistemic vice. She describes how such wishful thinking generally, and manifesting in particular, are epistemically problematic in the ways they obstruct the attainment of knowledge. She further adds that manifesting leaves the epistemic agent vulnerable (...) to unrealistic expectations, being set up for failure, and being prone to self-blame, and it also encourages a blurring of the distinction between thought and truth. D'Olimpio offers an example that demonstrates how manifesting as a particular instantiation of wishful thinking invites and encourages obsessive and compulsive habits and rituals that corrupt the epistemic agent's rational conclusions. Wishful thinking and manifesting negate the role for luck and privilege in achievement and downplay the role of effort and action. D'Olimpio concludes that as educators we may play a role in dispelling the myth that manifesting is a virtuous or beneficial practice and instead teach our students that, as a form of wishful thinking, it is an epistemic vice best avoided. (shrink)

Review of Gareth B. Matthews, The Child’s Philosopher. Edited by Maughn Rollins Gregory and Megan Jane Laverty. Abingdon: Routledge, 2023. 300 pp.: hardback, ISBN 978-1138342736; paperback, ISBN 9781032040646; eBook, ISBN 9780429439599. First published February 27, 2023 (copyright 2022).

For decades now, the United States has been in an era of regressive structural reform of public education. One consequence of this trend is that the United States is now having to relitigate structural questions about public education that it has not asked in a long time. Is public education a basic institution that ought to have a corresponding fundamental right protected by the Constitution? Is it a mere welfare benefit that can be allowed to ebb and flow with political (...) tides? Is it a common political good or a personal economic good – or both? A century after the various state governments achieved universal compulsory education within their jurisdictions, neoliberal reform has revealed that the United States has yet to offer, yet now must offer, definitive answers to these questions. I argue that this can be done in part by developing some assertions within extant Supreme Court jurisprudence that speak to public education’s meaning for individual persons and for American democracy entire, focusing on the hallmark _Plyler v. Doe_ (1982) decision. _Plyler_ clarifies two fundamental aims – call them _personalist_ aims – that underwrite compulsory education in every state: first, to meet the special need of all child persons to grow up and incorporate themselves into American society; and second, to foster the intergenerational integrity of the democratic Nation. I conclude that _Plyler’s_ personalism strengthens the theory that public education ought to have the status of a fundamental right. (shrink)

This paper progresses a critique on how the writings of selective founding fathers of phenomenology can inform a more structured, insightful, and sensitive approach to contemporary school learning. Specifically, the paper examines how previous Merleau-Pontian informed investigations into intersubjectivity, embodiment and the visibility of experience could benefit from an enhanced engagement with aspects of the semantic contribution of Edmund Husserl’s phenomenological thinking. We highlight how Husserl’s elaborations on intersubjectivity support a sophisticated ontological awareness of embodiment and discuss epistemological insights on (...) the types of enquiry-based evidence, that is worth reflecting and reviewing upon, and which could support self and shared learning. Informed by these conceptual and practice matters, we offer an extended elaboration of how ecological writer Nan Shepherd articulates on a plethora of sensory based experiential perceptions. Such experiences, we argue, articulate with the theorising of Merleau-Ponty; and in educational contexts with Husserl’s attention to enquiry in ways that could heighten students’ appreciation of experiential meanings, implicit further meanings, and wider socially shared meanings. (shrink)

Are there differences between the pedagogical approaches of East Asian and European cultures regarding the question of how to navigate the complex relations of the universal and the particular, the communal and the individual? By no means an abstract question, it calls for thought in what seems to be an increasingly volatile age: from political and social division and polarization, divergent forces of localization, globalization, and glocalization, increasing efforts to acknowledge and recognize different histories and traditions in expanding intercultural communication (...) processes while simultaneously not losing sight of the global challenges that humankind must respond to without much time for hesitation, it seems that conventional approaches to national education need to adapt. As a critical response to certain stereotypes regarding the apparent relations of sociality and individuality in countries traditionally influenced by (Neo-)Confucianism, this suite of articles gathers positions from colleagues working in East Asian contexts and in the UK to explore these and related problems from a variety of viewpoints. (shrink)

Liz JacksonToday lively debates are unfolding about artificial intelligence (Jackson, 2024; Peters et al., 2024; Sidorkin, 2024). Despite these debates, the topic remains undertheorized (Gourlay, 2...