Childhood and the Philosophy of Education

Andrew Stables in Professor of Education and Philosophy in the Department of Education at the University of Bath.

• Introduction: The conception of childhood; Part 1: The Aristotelian Heritage; 1.1. How Anti-Aristotelian can one be?; 1.2. Aristotle's debt to Plato; 1.3. Aristotle: children as people in formation; 1.4. Histories of childhood: footnotes to Aristotle?; 1.5. Pessimism and sin: the Puritan child; 1.6. Optimism and enlightenment: the liberal child; 1.7. Trailing clouds of glory: the romantic child; 1.8. The postmodern child: less than not much?; Part 2: A Fully Semiotic View of Childhood; 2.1. Living as semiotic engagement:; 2.2. The meaning-making semiotic child; 2.3 Learning and schooling: Dewey and beyond; Part 3: Education Reconsidered; 3.1. The roots of compulsory schooling; 3.2 The extension of the in-between years; 3.3 Teaching for significant events: identity and non-identity; Part 4: The Child in Society; 4.1 The child and the law; 4.2 Semiosis and social policy; 4.3 Doing children justice; References.

'What would it mean for our thinking about education, and in particular, our institutional arrangements for children's education, were we to think of children not as incomplete, or unprepared for the separate world of adults, but as semiotic engagers in life alongside adults? Andrew Stables explores the radical implications of this question in a lively and accessible manner, offering, along the way, a fascinating account of some central themes in the history and philosophy of childhood,  and addressing the implications for our conceptualization of childhood and adulthood of some important strands in contemporary social and political theory, including environmental ethics, post-humanism and post-modernism. Whether or not one is convinced by Stables' claim that a reconceptualization of childhood is due, his analysis certainly offers a stimulating challenge to some  existing conceptualizations.' Judith Suissa, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of  Education, Institute of Education, University of London, UK