Description
Book SynopsisAlthough philosophy of childhood has always played some part in philosophical discourse, its emergence as a field of postmodern theory follows the rise, in the late nineteenth century, of psychoanalysis, for which childhood is a key signifier. Then in the mid-twentieth century Philipe Aries's seminal Centuries of Childhood introduced the master-concept of childhood as a social and cultural invention, thereby weakening the strong grip of biological metaphors on imagining childhood. Today, while philosophy of childhood per se is a relatively boundaryless field of inquiry, it is one that has clear distinctions from history, anthropology, sociology, and even psychology of childhood. This volume of essays, which represents the work of a diverse, international set of scholars, explores the shapes and boundaries of the emergent field, and the possibilities for mediating encounters between its multiple sectors, including history of philosophy, philosophy of education, pedagogy, literature and
Trade ReviewFor too long, conceptions of childhood have been in thrall to linear, teleological, normative, developmental notions of child growth. Educational prescriptions are often built on this narrow epistemological foundation, further narrowed by disciplinary regimes focused on compliance, and curriculum regimes focused on mastery of testable factoids of information. This book with its diverse, multidisciplinary scholarship, and searching inquiry into the meaning and experiences of children, offers a powerful counter-narrative, and opens up a space for thinking of children in terms that refuse fixity and binaries, and offers up powerful metaphors for how we might assist children in coming to be and in experiencing the liberatory possibilities of expansive subjectivity and critical imagination. -- Michael O'Loughlin, PhD, Adelphi University
This insightful collection makes a significant and critical contribution to our understanding of Philosophy of Childhood. Key issues are comprehensively addressed and important questions are raised that demand consideration in determining the place of children in society. -- Claire Cassidy, University of Strathclyde
This is a timely and welcome contribution to the increasingly important and diverse field of childhood studies. The essays span a wide range of topics and perspectives and offers a radical and deep theoretical perspective that will empower practitioners and researchers in this field. Contributors include respected authorities and newer voices, who ensure that this book needs to be read by anyone who values children’s voices and lives in dialogic meaning-making. -- Darren Garside, Bath Spa University
Table of ContentsIntroduction David Kennedy and Brock Bahler The Child in Ancient Philosophy 1. What Is the Sound of a Child Growing Up? The Question of the Child Thomas J. J. Storme 2. Heraclitus and the Child Giuseppe Ferarro, translated by Stefano Oliverio and Brock Bahler 3. Childhood, Philosophy, and the Polis: Exclusion and Resistance Walter Omar Kohan 4. Ethics is for Children: Revisiting Aristotle’s Virtue Theory Andrew Komasinski The Child in Continental Philosophy 5. The Parent-Child Relation and the Decentered Self: A Phenomenological Basis for an Originary Peace Brock Bahler 6. Lyotard and the Philosopher Child Karin Fry 7. Beyond the Developmental Machine: The Politics of Philosophy for Infancy Tyson Lewis Philosophy of Childhood and Education 8. Traveling Children: Thinking about Education as Displacement Daniel Contage 9. The Re-childed Teacher: A Philosophical-Educational Perspective on the Child and Culture Stefano Oliverio 10. Tyrannized Childhood of the Liberator-Philosopher: J. S. Mill and Poetry as Second Childhood Joshua M. Hall Philosophy of Childhood and the Arts 11. Negotiating the Pseudoenvironments of Childhood Natalie M. Fletcher 12. Mourning, Melancholia, and the Maintenance of the Lost Child: Questioning Tribunella on the Uses of Trauma in Children’s Literature James Stillwaggon 13. Childhood between Literature and Philosophy: Readings of Childhood in Manoel De Barros’s Poetry Bernardina Leal 14. Nobody Knows—Infancy and the Experience of Being Not Unable Nancy Vansieleghem The Future of Philosophy of Childhood 15. The Posthuman Child: iii Karin Murris
