Past, Present, and Future Possibilities for Philosophy and History of Education

Stefan Ramaekers is Associate Professor in the Laboratory for Education and Society, KU Leuven. He studied Educational Sciences and Philosophy at KU Leuven (Belgium) and obtained a PhD in Educational Sciences in the field of Philosophy of Education about forms of skepticism in educational theory and practices. Over the last years, his research has mainly focused on a critical investigation of the discourse of parenting and the parent-child relationship. Together with Prof. Judith Suissa of the Institute of Education (University College London) he published the book The Claims of Parenting. Reasons, responsibility, and society (Springer). Together with Dr. Naomi Hodgson (Liverpool Hope University) he is currently researching figurations of parenting in cultural representations, such as film. Their book Philosophical presentations of raising children: The grammar of upbringing is forthcoming (Autumn 2018; Palgrave).Naomi Hodgson is Lecturer in Education Studies at Liverpool Hope University, UK, and Visiting Researcher in the Laboratory for Education, Culture, and Society, KU Leuven. Her research, situated in the field of educational philosophy, focuses on the relationship between education, governance, and subjectivity, particularly in relation to the figures of the researcher and the parent. Her current research project, funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, is entitled 'The researcher disposition as today’s mode of subjectivation: the case of parenting', and she is currently completing the manuscript of Philosophical Presentations of Raising Children: The Grammar of Upbringing, co-authored with Stefan Ramaekers (KU Leuven) and due to be published in 2018. She has recently collaborated with Joris Vlieghe (Aberdeen) and Piotr Zamojski (Gdansk) to write a Manifesto for a Post-Critical Pedagogy (Punctum Books, 2018). Naomi is author of Philosophy and Theory in Education: Writing in the Margin (co-authored with Amanda Fulford; Routledge, 2016), Citizenship for the Learning Society: Europe, Subjectivity, and Educational Research (Wiley, 2016), and numerous journal articles and book chapters in the field of philosophy of education.Paul Smeyers is Professor at Ghent University and at KU Leuven, both in Belgium, and Honorary Professor at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). He teaches philosophy of education and methodology of the Geisteswissenschaften (Qualitative/Interpretative Research Methods). He is the author of numerous articles focusing on Wittgenstein’s relevance for philosophy of education, on postmodernism, and on issues of the methodology of educational research. He is President of the International Network of Philosophers of Education and link-convenor for Network 13, Philosophy of Education, European Educational Research Association. He is the Editor of Ethics and Education (Taylor and Francis). Together with Nigel Blake, Richard Smith, and PaulStandish he co-authored three books, Thinking Again: Education after Postmodernism, Education in an Age of Nihilism, The Therapy of Education, and with Michael Peters and Nick Burbules Showing and Doing. With Marc Depaepe he co-edited the series Educational Research (Springer, thus far 10 books). Recent publications include a co-authored book with Richard Smith (Making Sense of Education and Educational Research, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2014) and a collection co-edited with David Bridges, Morwenna Griffiths, and Nick Burbules (International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research Methods, 2 vols., Springer, 2015). His latest work focuses anew on Wittgenstein’s legacy for philosophy of education. Some of that is included in the collection edited by Michael Peters and Jeff Stickney (A Companion to Wittgenstein on Education. Springer, 2017).

• Preface: Paul Smeyers and the Dutch Connection.- 1. Introduction: Reminders Assembling a Picture of Paul Smeyers.- 2. At the Intersection of Anecdotal Stories and Great Narratives: Reflections on the Cooperation between Educational Historians and Educational Philosophers.- 3. Seeing the Points of Connection.- 4. The University as Pedagogical Form: Public Study, Responsibility, Mondialisation.- 5. Philosophies of Hospitality: Toward Perpetual Peace and Freedom.- 6. Why, Perhaps, Philosophers of Education (and Other Educational Researchers) ‘Leave Everything as it is’.- 7. Truth ‘after Postmodernism’: Wittgenstein and Postfoundationalism in Philosophy of Education.- 8. ‘Plowden’ at 50 — R.S. Peters’ Response to Educational Progressivism.- 9. Upon the Academic Philosopher Caught in the Fly-bottle.- 10. Postscript: Humanistic Study, Collaboration, and Interdisciplinarity:  A Dialogue on the Leuven Research Community.- Appendix: List of Selected Publications.