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This essay begins with the premise that Italo Calvino's Memos serve as a fundamentally educational proposition. Each of his lectures can be regarded as a substantive proposal, encouraging a revaluation of our contemporary world through unconventional forms of knowledge, especially considering the challenges posed by the new millennium. The essay's central objective is to further the intellectual movement initiated by Calvino, but with a specific focus on theorizing education. It aims not to simply apply Calvino's principles and insights to education or provide a pedagogical analysis but rather to actively engage with them, fostering educational-philosophical reflections centred around the concept of "lightness", as identified by the Italian writer. Key questions emerge from this exploration: How can "lightness" be considered an educational quality? Can it serve as a valuable guide for navigating the complexities of contemporary education? Can the notion of "lightness" inspire the creation of new pedagogical languages that resist the instrumentalizing tendencies in education? The essay proceeds to elucidate Calvino's primary theses on "lightness" while also examining the potential for a productive dialogue between Calvino and Richard Rorty's ideas on irony, both in public and private dimensions. It illustrates how ironic practices, such as sarcasm, satire, and wit, conveyed through artistic expressions, can embody the essence of "lightness" that Calvino encourages. Ultimately, the essay concludes by reflecting on the pedagogical implications of embracing "lightness" in education, particularly in the affirmative/post-critical and Arendtian sense, as a means of bequeathing a world that genuinely belongs to future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to study one of the potential contemporary updates of pragmatist philosophy. Specifically, it explores pedagogic possibilities that open up by adding Axel Honneth's studies to the discussion on the ethics of recognition, with the community dimension of education found in John Dewey's philosophy of education. In the spirit of Richard S. Bernstein's understanding of Dewey's radical democracy and from a more clearly educational philosophical perspective, the article explores the pedagogical possibilities that arise from broadening the communitarian dimension of education found in Dewey's philosophy of education with the studies by Honneth on the ethics of recognition. In the line of Colin Koopman's definition of transitionalism as a 'philosophical temperament', Honneth's ethics of recognition 'transitions' the Deweyian tradition towards a more contemporary disposition to think through the ethical dimension of education. The article intends to make use of a fruitful dialogue between classic pragmatism and critical theory to address some challenges of contemporary school life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Rorty, any attempt to articulate a theory of truth as such is of no interest. This implies that although it may be meaningful to differentiate the truths from the falsehoods, it is pointless to say what the property of goodness is in the things we believe are good to do. Rorty points out that our no longer understanding Philosophy – with the capital 'P'–as the framing of normative notions would make room for a post-philosophical culture where the philosophers' activity would be closer to the practices of cultural critique with the self-imposed limitation of devoting themselves exclusively to advancing descriptions of how things relate to each other. This article aims to explore what would happen if this provocation were brought to the field of Pedagogy. Taking on this Rortyan theme, keeping hope on the potentially liberating and transformative power of education implies a hopeful attitude by which individuals involved in education processes express their love for the world as a commitment to a better future, as well as their belief in its possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article seeks to present the philosophy of education that is at the very heart of William James's legacy. It is argued that along with the rise of interest in the field of education towards classic American pragmatism, the study of William James has suffered from a lack of attention. After giving an accurate overview of the themes under debate in those few works which have addressed James's thought from a pedagogical perspective, the article progresses on discussing some other educational themes which have gone unnoticed. More precisely, first, the inspiration offered by the image of the «tactful teacher» and, second, the philosophy of moral education that is part of James's works on psychology. Both themes account for the pedagogical potential that continues to be hidden in the work of this philosopher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]