Overview

Thinking, Childhood, and Time: Contemporary Perspectives on the Politics of Education is an interdisciplinary exploration of the notion of childhood and its place in a philosophical education. Contributors consider children’s experiences of time, space, embodiment, and thinking. By acknowledging Hannah Arendt’s notion that every child brings a new beginning into the world, they address the question of how educators can be more responsive to the Otherness that childhood offers, while assuming that most educational models follow either a chronological model of child development or view children as human beings that are lacking. The contributors explore childhood as a philosophical concept in children, adults, and even beyond human beings—Childhood as a (forgotten) dimension of the world. Contributors also argue that a pedagogy that does not aim for an “exodus of childhood,” but rather responds to the arrival of a new human being responsibly (dialogically), fosters a deeper appreciation of the newness that children bring in order to sensitize us for our own Childhood as adults as well and allow us to welcome other forms of childhood in the world. As a whole, this book argues that the experience of natality, such as the beginning of life, is not chronologically determined, but rather can occur more than once in a human life and beyond. Scholars of philosophy, education, psychology, and childhood studies will find this book particularly useful.

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9781793604583

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Reviews

This impressive book is a significant contribution to the emergent field of philosophy of childhood. It breaks new ground by extending our understanding of childhood beyond the chronological, deficit, and romantic conceptions. Thinking, Childhood, and Time includes thirteen original essays that work together to reanimate our sense of childhood as an existential state. In essays that draw upon literature, phenomenology, postmodern theories, and posthuman approaches, the contributors' explorations of time, natality, community, creativity, culture, and schooling are equally poetic, perceptive, and provocative. A testament to the philosophical interestingness of childhood, this book will have an immediate and lasting impact in education. --Megan Jane Laverty, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University Readers who recognize in a child's experience not merely an imperfect attempt at adulthood--but, rather, a unique and profound expressivity--will cherish the work that Peter Costello has advanced in Philosophical Children in Literary Situations. Costello's gracious and deeply insightful book engages with classics of children's literature while providing multiple, lucid points of entry into a richly-layered phenomenological method. He writes not only for philosophers but also for educators, parents, and researchers seeking new ways of understanding the complexities of gender, race, meaning, and community that shape a child's perceptual world.--Jessica Wiskus, Duquesne University

"""This impressive book is a significant contribution to the emergent field of philosophy of childhood. It breaks new ground by extending our understanding of childhood beyond the chronological, deficit, and romantic conceptions. Thinking, Childhood, and Time includes thirteen original essays that work together to reanimate our sense of childhood as an existential state. In essays that draw upon literature, phenomenology, postmodern theories, and posthuman approaches, the contributors' explorations of time, natality, community, creativity, culture, and schooling are equally poetic, perceptive, and provocative. A testament to the philosophical interestingness of childhood, this book will have an immediate and lasting impact in education."" --Megan Jane Laverty, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University [T]he time spent contemplating, making connections, and seeking application to the brilliant ideas presented in Thinking, childhood, and Time was time well spent. This work will be read and taught for years to come. -- ""Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis "" Readers who recognize in a child's experience not merely an imperfect attempt at adulthood--but, rather, a unique and profound expressivity--will cherish the work that Peter Costello has advanced in Philosophical Children in Literary Situations. Costello's gracious and deeply insightful book engages with classics of children's literature while providing multiple, lucid points of entry into a richly-layered phenomenological method. He writes not only for philosophers but also for educators, parents, and researchers seeking new ways of understanding the complexities of gender, race, meaning, and community that shape a child's perceptual world. --Jessica Wiskus, Duquesne University"

[T]he time spent contemplating, making connections, and seeking application to the brilliant ideas presented in Thinking, childhood, and Time was time well spent. This work will be read and taught for years to come.-- Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis This impressive book is a significant contribution to the emergent field of philosophy of childhood. It breaks new ground by extending our understanding of childhood beyond the chronological, deficit, and romantic conceptions. Thinking, Childhood, and Time includes thirteen original essays that work together to reanimate our sense of childhood as an existential state. In essays that draw upon literature, phenomenology, postmodern theories, and posthuman approaches, the contributors' explorations of time, natality, community, creativity, culture, and schooling are equally poetic, perceptive, and provocative. A testament to the philosophical interestingness of childhood, this book will have an immediate and lasting impact in education.--Megan Jane Laverty, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

[T]he time spent contemplating, making connections, and seeking application to the brilliant ideas presented in Thinking, childhood, and Time was time well spent. This work will be read and taught for years to come.--Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis This impressive book is a significant contribution to the emergent field of philosophy of childhood. It breaks new ground by extending our understanding of childhood beyond the chronological, deficit, and romantic conceptions. Thinking, Childhood, and Time includes thirteen original essays that work together to reanimate our sense of childhood as an existential state. In essays that draw upon literature, phenomenology, postmodern theories, and posthuman approaches, the contributors' explorations of time, natality, community, creativity, culture, and schooling are equally poetic, perceptive, and provocative. A testament to the philosophical interestingness of childhood, this book will have an immediate and lasting impact in education. --Megan Jane Laverty, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

Author Information

Walter Omar Kohan is professor in the Childhood Studies Department at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Barbara Weber is associate professor and program chair of the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program (ISGP) at the University of British Columbia.

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