Showing 22 articles
Mary Wollstonecraft and the Search for Women’s Equality
Author: Natalia LemaJanuary 15, 2020
In the mid-18th century, when London had approximately 600,000 inhabitants, a woman with remarkable ideas was born in Spitalfields. Her approach to life and her fight for equality between women and men, in a society that was far from equal, made her stand out from the crowd. Her words “I do not wish (women) to [...]
Glimpse into Tagore’s Legacy with Vandana Hazra (Event Synopsis)
Author: Manjula NanavatiDecember 31, 2019
As a poet, musician, writer, artist and educationist, Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore was a visionary polymath. His verses, stories and songs are simple and personal, yet elegant and profound. His lyrical style was capable of focusing a magnifying glass to capture nature’s minutest details, while also throwing a searchlight across the heavens to encompass vast, [...]
Should the Focus of Education Shift from Knowledge to Wisdom?
Author: Sabine LeitnerMay 27, 2019
The concept of wisdom is deeply rooted in human history. It has been considered a virtue in all the great philosophical and religious traditions, from Pythagoras to Plato, Aristotle and Confucius, and from Christianity to Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism. But although the literature on wisdom goes back to the early days of humanity, [...]
The importance of knowing what is good
Author: Sabine LeitnerOctober 19, 2017
If morality is the discernment of what is good and consequently the ability to choose between what is good and what is bad, then we have clearly lost our moral compass some time ago. It seems that we don’t really know anymore what is good for us. And this starts at the most basic level [...]
A Revolution for the Future
Author: Pierre PoulainDecember 26, 2016
Do we need to learn from History? On December 3rd I was sitting in front of my laptop, wondering what might be the theme of this article. I didn’t want to write about something that I didn’t believe was important or significant. Usually I let my intuition identify a subject, but on that day, this [...]
Education: To What End?
Author: Archana SamarthSeptember 23, 2016
“Your children are not your children. They are sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the make [...]
Education and Technology
Author: Gurpreet VirdeeApril 30, 2015
Whether you think it’s good, bad or ugly, education has become irrevocably entwined with technology. No classroom is complete without the ubiquitous digital projector and every self-respecting educationalist has a trusty laser-pointer. Arguably, PowerPoint is the application of choice used to spread enthrallment and tedium in equal measure. Online maps, interactive videos, “gamification” [...]
Personality Changes
Author: Delia Steinberg GuzmánOctober 4, 2014
In order to deal with some of the problems that afflict modern societies, a lot of research has been conducted into the changes that the human personality can undergo. Clearly, this is something that concerns us all. However, attempting to define the personality is a difficult and complex task and, for the same reason, it’s [...]
The Crisis of Western Education and the Role of Philosophy
Author: Sabine LeitnerAugust 8, 2014
Introduction In the developed world, the standards of literacy, numeracy, general knowledge and behaviour are falling. Millions of young people have also become disaffected from school and, despite the fact that previous generations have fought hard to make what was once a privilege of the rich accessible to all, do not see much point in [...]
The Mozart Effect
Author: David HirschornMay 12, 2014
“Thus, then, excellence of form and content in discourse and of musical expression and rhythm, and grace of form and movement, all depend on goodness of nature, by which I mean, not the foolish simplicity sometimes called by courtesy good nature, but a nature in which goodness of character has been well and truly established.” [...]