Following the definition of 'practice' conceptualised in "After Virtue," the paper argues that literature as creative writing and reading is a MacIntyrean practice. Literature's key internal goods are spelled out: the common aesthetic enjoyment achieved by the writer's ability to create a truthful fictional narrative the reader is drawn…

In this paper, I argue that the more objectively desirable children's formal education is, the stronger are the moral reasons to conceptualise the school normatively as a public social institution. Social institutions are goods-producing teleological entities for which the good created provides a central framework for the normative evaluation of…

In their defence of the school Jan Masschelein and Maarten Simons define it as a source of 'free time.' Drawing on Catherine Malabou's compelling reading of Heidegger in her "The Heidegger Change," I aim to provide a strong ontological justification for the claims made on behalf of the school concerning free time, common goods, and…

This article explores the educational philosophy of Asja Lacis' proletarian children's theatre. Taking her post-First World War encounter with Russian street children as a starting point for my inquiry, I argue that Lacis regards the theatre as a rehearsal space for life. Here, children are to be absorbed into the craft of theatre, with the aim of…

Arendt-inspired philosophy of education has been a lively field of research in recent years. This research is mostly based on Arendt's essay 'The Crisis in Education'. In the same historical context, Arendt wrote her initial essay on education, the controversial 'Reflections on Little Rock', and her political-theoretical work "The Human…

The point of education is to support students to be able to live meaningful, autonomous lives, filled with rich experiences. The arts and aesthetic education are vital to such flourishing lives in that they afford bold, beautiful, moving experiences of awe, wonder and the sublime that are connected to the central human functional capability…

Luce Irigaray offers a powerful 'philosophy of teaching' that connects with the ancient paradigm. In this paper, I discuss the relationship between teaching and love as this is depicted in Plato, and I look at Irigaray's reading of the "Symposium." Then I show how Irigaray's own philosophy can help us to think about the ideal teaching…

In this article, we examine Emmanuel Levinas' understanding of ethics through a conceptual analysis of ethics as 'mise en question'. We contribute our perspective to the conversation on the Levinasian approach to education provoked by Alistair Miller, Soyoung Lee and Paul Standish. Through a systematic reading of Levinas' texts as well as his…

A version of education conditioned by a focus on measurable outcomes contributes to the unhappiness of children. Using an approach that relates the current crisis in mental health to Simone Weil's concept of affliction, I argue that culture, suffering from its own instrumentalisation as cure, needs itself to be healed. Using a case study of…

Much of Western media has promoted the idea that we are facing an epidemic of mental illness and psychiatric emergencies in contemporary Western society and worldwide, and that young people are a particularly vulnerable group. Schools have become a prominent site of concern and focus for this discourse as mental health problems are said to start…

Much thinking in psychology and related forms of psychotherapy is in the grip of a conception of inner-outer relationships that distorts the reality of our lives and world. In his later work, and in the last years of his life especially, Wittgenstein battled against this. In the course of his criticism, he developed vivid images that challenge…

Despite the convergence of approaches to mental health in schools, criticisms have been levelled about the triviality of mindfulness and the reluctance of teachers to encourage more personal expression in the classroom, relying instead on a mixture of ancient practices and modern cognitive behavioural therapy. Furthermore, there are still real…

In this paper, I will begin by charting some of the conceptions of mental health in young people today, paying particular attention to recent mental health education policies in England. I will focus on the concept of 'resilience' as central to these policies, and how this represents an impoverished understanding of mental health, what it means to…

This paper addresses the question of mental health, in particular the manner in which it finds its way into education. Increased attention to mental health in education should be welcomed, but often the focus is on 'problem-solving', which in turn confines the 'solution' within the spectrum of preventive and corrective intervention. Often it is…

A recent production of "Romeo and Juliet" at the Globe Theatre in London has foregrounded the themes of mental health and a sick society. My essay begins by exploring the controversial reception of the 2021 production. But Shakespeare's play has a number of key features that are undecidable, by design. These are directly relevant to the…