International Conference on Philosophy for Children 2025

"Knowledge - Values - Change - New Realities and Future Generations"

13-16 November 2025, University of Graz
Meerscheinschlössl, Mozartgasse 3, 8010 Graz/Austria

Our world is undergoing profound change. Knowledge, reality and society are being transformed as a result of new technologies, complex interrelationships and growing political and social challenges. In the face of increasing crises - armed conflicts, climate change and technological transformations - the question arises as to how we might meet these global challenges.

The discipline of philosophy is not alone in being concerned with these fundamental questions; these concerns are shared by people across all sectors of society. On the one hand, innovations and technological advances that can improve our lives are opening up new approaches in science, economy and medicine. At the same time, these developments hold risks, such as the danger of misusing new technologies and social inequalities. The future offers numerous opportunities, but also risks that need to be carefully evaluated.
Numerous questions arise, especially for future generations:

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What role does knowledge play in a changing world? How do we deal with the tension between knowledge and non-knowledge? What challenges and opportunities occur for democratic societies? What impact does AI have on knowledge, education and social values? How can we reflect on these questions and concerns philosophically and thereby play an active role in shaping our societies response to them? 

The last 40 years the Austrian Center of Philosophy with Children and Youth (ACPC) - has been providing essential programs, trainings and curricula to promote thinking skills, in order to better explore the philosophical dimensions of experience. Doing philosophy with children and adolescents has shown us that they are capable of thinking critically and creatively, and that a major aim of education should be to help children become more reasonable and able to make better judgements. The benefits of philosophy come through the doing – through active engagement in rigorous philosophical inquiry and dialogue.

The International Conference on Philosophy for Children 2025 is planned as an inter- and transcultural forum in order to facilitate philosophical debates on current phenomena and to link up with other scientific disciplines and to promote mutual exchange and present new approaches in order to provide knowledge bases for concept developments in the field of education and philosophy.

 

Key topics of the conference: 

  • New perspectives for philosophizing with children and young people

  • The role of philosophy and dialogue in building bridges between generations

  • The role of knowledge in a changing world - the tension between knowing and not knowing

  • Digital ethics - social media and artificial intelligence 

  • Ethical challenges: Climate change - Society - Conflicts

  • Knowledge, reality and the future 

  • The future of democracy - challenges and opportunities for democratic societies

  • Science, communication and the public sphere 

  • Constructive and destructive dynamics that shape our society

Registration and information:
Institut für Kinder- und Jugendphilosophie
Tel.: +43 (0)316 90370201
E-Mail: kinderphilosophie(at)aon.at
E-Mail: office@kinderphilosophie.at
Homepage: https://kinderphilosophie-gesellschaft.uni-graz.at/de/