International Conference of Philosophy for Children 2005

"Philosophical Foundations of Innovative Learning"

from 20 - 22 October 2005, in Graz/Austria

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Austrian Society for Philosophy of Children, an international congress on "Philosophical Foundations of Innovative Learning" will be held in Graz, Austria, from October 20-22, 2005. In the course of the past years, science has made decisive progress in the field of brain research. The study of cognitive phenomena also has a long philosophical tradition and is a highly topical issue for modern science. The high complexity poses great challenges for the scientific disciplines involved and can only be solved through interdisciplinary cooperation and methodological diversity. An intensive cooperation between philosophy, neuroscience and psychology is urgently needed when dealing with questions of consciousness, free will, personal development and the image of man in the present. Our task is therefore, within the framework of the congress, to draw on or make explicit recent research results in order to find a neuroscientific grounding for the question "How do we learn?" The main goal of the congress is to understand the learning process based on scientific findings in order to explore ways to improve learning and teaching practices. In the past, it was believed that the human brain had all its neurons at birth. Later, the insight was gained that neuron formation is complete by about three years of age. More recent findings have revealed that the formation of synoptic connections occurs throughout life. Special importance is attached to childhood and adolescence. The research approach of child philosophy is positioned at the interface between philosophy, neuropsychology, sociodynamics and pedagogy. Child philosophy expands the content and methodological approach to the study of integral personality development. Philosophizing as an elementary cultural technique offers the opportunity to build basic cognitive, social, emotional and communicative skills in order to foster creativity. The topics of the congress include: the role of philosophizing, critical, networked thinking, and relevance to current -- especially ethical -- problems of our time. These problems involve issues and topics in the areas.q

• Learning processes and value education.
• Can science show us a new way of living together? - Possibilities and limits
• Philosophy and brain research: neurophilosophy as a new orientation
• Cognition and emotion: importance of the connection for learning
• Ontologies? Common methods of knowledge transfer
• Improvement of learning and teaching practice
• Meaningful design of e-learning material
• Implications of integrating information and communication technology (ICT) into a student/school-based direct instruction experience
• The cognitive, emotional and therapeutic significance of neurofeedback
• Knowledge space theory
• Philosophy of music
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and neuroscience