PESA Encounters: From Debate to Dialogue

In this article, the author shares her experiences on how she came to know about Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA). The author opines that PESA could develop more positive interaction with both the Federation of Australasian Philosophy for Children Associations (FAPCA) and the Australian Philosophy Association (APA). She asserts that the four decades of PESA are marked by minor epistemic stages at specific conferences: (1) 1970 Sydney--Analytic beginnings; (2) 1975 Melbourne--Confrontation and division--insertion of social relevance; (3) 1989 Christchurch--Development of a community of inquiry; and (4) 2005 Hong Kong--The internationalisation of PESA. The author describes the 4 stages that marked the four decades of PESA and suggests that increasing membership to a wider community is not enough unless it engages all members in the open community of inquiry which marked the third convivial stage of its growth.