The cultural invasion of Yuin Country in Australia not only colonized the Yuin people and Yuin Country itself, but also contributed to non-Aboriginal people's continual colonized journey of disconnecting self from Mother Earth. Cultural awareness is a process driven by Western theories informed by the colonial dualism that functions on…

By virtue of his "Essays" Montaigne is rightly regarded not only as a radically modern philosopher but also as a transformative educational innovator. He confronted the extent to which pedantry and acculturation can justify cruelty by developing a conception of liberal arts education as the arts of liberation, and at the core of this…

This article focuses on the structures of humor and joke telling that require particular kinds of attentiveness and particular relationships between speaker and audience, or more specifically, between classmates. First, I will analyze the pedagogical and relational preconditions that are necessary for humor to work. If humor is to work well, the…

A review of the literature in philosophy in the past 20 years indicates that relatively little has been written on the connection between friendship, intimacy and humor. This article is intended to begin to address the neglect of this topic among philosophers by focusing on some interesting aspects of the relationship between friendship, intimacy…

In this article I try to conceive a new approach towards laughter in the context of formal schooling. I focus on laughter in so far as it is a bodily response during which we are entirely delivered to uncontrollable, spasmodic reactions. To see the educational relevance of this particular kind of laughter, as well as to understand why laughter is…

Ludwig Wittgenstein suggests that "A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes". The idea for this dialogue comes from a conversation that Michael Peters and Morwenna Griffiths had at the Philosophy of Education of Great Britain annual meeting at the University of Oxford, 2011. It was sparked by an…

This article begins by examining the bad reputation humor traditionally had in philosophy and education. Two of the main charges against humor--that it is hostile and irresponsible--are linked to the Superiority Theory. That theory is critiqued and two other theories of laughter are presented--the Relief Theory and the Incongruity Theory. In the…

In this article, I reflect on Nelson Mandela's (Madiba, the clan name of Mandela) education legacy. I argue that Madiba's education legacy is constituted by three interrelated aspects: firstly, an education for non-violence guided by deliberation, compassion and reconciliation; secondly, education as responsibility towards the Other; and…

This article states that the concept of time we generally hold is a spatial version of time. However, a spatial time concept creates a series of problems, with unfortunate consequences for education.The problems become particularly obvious when the spatial time concept is used as a basis for the education function that is connected to the…

Increased attention to the relationship between democracy and education in the UK has been accompanied over the past thirteen years by an interest in how art can be used to promote democratic citizenship. While this approach has led to increased funding for the arts, it is not without its problems, and has often entailed an apolitical and…

This article aims to critically examine how misrecognition is conceived as a challenge for pedagogic action. Krassimir Stojanov's notion of the pathological behaviour patterns of teachers and Charles Bingham's "pitfalls of recognition" introduce how misrecognition may appear in schools, and offer advice to teachers and students…

The aim of this article is to establish--and explore--James Baldwin's significance for educational theory. Through a close reading of "Everybody's Protest Novel", I show that Baldwin's thinking is an important (if unrecognized) precursor to the work of Stanley Cavell and Cora Diamond, and is relevant to a number of…

Philosophy's essence depicted by Socrates lies in its role as pedagogy for living, yet its traditional treatment of "body" as a hindrance to "knowledge" in fact severs it from life, transforming it into "an escape from life" (James, 1978, p. 18). The philosophy/life dichotomy is thus an inherent flaw preventing…

This article examines the impact of the reading assessment, DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), on literacy education through the Habermasian lens. It argues that DIBELS, along with other systemic forces, has surged beyond its domain as a mere assessment and colonized the lifeworld of literacy education by distorting the…

It is the epistemic as well as the ethical responsibility of academics to aim to approach their research and teaching with a proper understanding of the ultimate ethical purpose or telos of their defining activities and products, which is the practical aim of promoting human flourishing. Minimally, academics should aim at understanding, and a key…