CFP: Special Issue of the Journal of Philosophy in Schools: Aesthetic Education

The Journal of Philosophy in Schools (JPS) is seeking articles for inclusion in a special issue entitled Aesthetic Education and Philosophy in Schools.

Aesthetic education is often treated as a concern of the arts curriculum alone — a matter of what happens in the music room, the drama studio, or the visual arts classroom. Yet the claim that education has an aesthetic dimension is older and broader than this narrower usage suggests. From Schiller's argument that beauty is the condition under which the human being becomes whole, to Dewey's insistence that aesthetic experience is not a separate domain but the consummatory quality of any experience undergone with attention, to Maxine Greene's reminder that imagination is the passport to the "as if," the tradition has long held that the aesthetic is implicated wherever learners are asked to perceive carefully, feel responsively, and judge with discernment.

This raises questions that sit close to the heart of philosophy in schools. What is the relationship between aesthetic experience and the formation of judgment? Can the school, which often prioritizes reasoning and dialogue, also be understood as a site of aesthetic formation — a place where attention, receptivity, and imaginative response are cultivated alongside argument? If so, how might practitioners understand what they are already doing, and what further possibilities might open up? Finally, how might these questions be addressed using philosophical pedagogies?

This special issue invites contributions that examine the intersection of aesthetic education and philosophy with school-aged children, across and beyond the arts curriculum. We welcome submissions from various philosophical traditions, as well as historical recoveries of figures whose work remains generative for contemporary practice. We particularly welcome scholars who approach aesthetics in a crossdisciplinary way – calling upon figures from various traditions to formulate their philosophical argument. 

Papers could address the following questions or pursue additional lines of inquiry:

• The Facilitator as Artist: How might the role of the teacher or facilitator in a philosophical inquiry be understood as an aesthetic practice or performance?

• Embodiment & Environment (Place & Play): What is the relationship between aesthetic experience, physical play, and embodied cognition in philosophical inquiry? How do the physical classroom environment, outdoor settings, or digital spaces influence the aesthetic dimension of philosophical inquiry with children?

• The Role of Attention, Perception, and/or Imagination: What role does aesthetic attention, perception, or imagination play in philosophical inquiry with children, and how might this be cultivated? How can the school be a place for aesthetic philosophical practice, and what would such a reframing change in pedagogical terms?

• Educative Aesthetic Experience: What distinguishes an aesthetic experience that is genuinely educative from one that is merely pleasant, passive, or even distracting within the context of philosophical inquiry? How can aesthetics be engaged without instrumentalizing works of art?

• Educating the Aesthetic Dimension: What does it mean to educate the aesthetic dimension of a young person's experience or cultivate aesthetic sensibility, and how does this differ from, or complement, the cultivation of critical reasoning?

• Creative Thinking and Aesthetics: How does "creative thinking" function within philosophical inquiry with children, and what is its relationship to critical and caring thinking? How might an aesthetic perspective illuminate the distinctiveness of creative thinking and its compatibility with critical reasoning in philosophical dialogue?

• Aesthetics and Flourishing: In what ways do aesthetic experiences in the philosophy classroom foster a sense of meaning, connection, and student growth? What specific qualities, structures, or pedagogical conditions must an aesthetic experience possess to facilitate philosophical learning and student growth? How does engaging the aesthetic dimension within philosophical inquiry contribute to student well-being, eudaimonia, and the holistic flourishing of the child?

• Theoretically-Grounded Aesthetic Intuition: What theoretical resources are needed to make sense of practitioner intuitions that the best philosophy classrooms have an aesthetic quality that exceeds their argumentative content?

• Empirical Research and Implications: How do aesthetic considerations bear on ethical, civic, and epistemic education, and what are the implications for classroom practice? How might empirical research illuminate the presence and significance of aesthetic experience in classroom philosophical dialogue? 

• Diverse Aesthetic Traditions: What can non-Western aesthetic traditions or Indigenous perspectives on beauty and experience bring to philosophy in schools? What aesthetic injustices have occurred because of the emphasis on beauty and other Western aesthetic traditions? What barriers to entry are generated by the perceived “gatekeeping” of Western concepts of aesthetics? 

We invite extended abstracts (500-700 words) to be considered for inclusion in this special issue. Please include a brief bio indicating any relevant affiliations.

Procedures and Timelines

Your extended abstract and proposed title, along with your name, affiliation, and bios, should be submitted via email to the guest editors: Rebecca Taylor ([email protected]) and Michael Quinn ([email protected]).

Abstracts due: Friday, September 11, 2026. Authors will be notified by early October 2026 as to whether their submission has been accepted.

Full papers (4000-6000 words)will be due February 1, 2027, for double-blind peer review. 

Author Guidelines can be found here:https://jps.bham.ac.uk/about/submissions/

JPS is a peer-reviewed, open-access online journal dedicated to research in philosophy with school-aged children. This special issue will be published in the June/July or  November/December 2027.