Educating the Postmodern Child The Struggle for Learning in a World of Virtual Realities

Educating the Postmodern Child traces the philosophical challenges posed by children living in an information age. Fiachra Long explores the difficult construction of childhood in today's society, looking at issues including child space and child empowerment, globality, tactility, talent, and visibility. Arguing that a key danger for young people is the eclipse of the public arena and their withdrawal into a private world, he asks whether philosophy can offer an antidote to the uncertain landscape of childhood, enabling children to locate themselves within postmodern culture. Chapters take a phenomenological approach, beginning with a case study or by invoking an experience common across computer literate children today, and draw on historical sources to critique the situation, providing a rich combination of educational and philosophical theory and incorporating some relatively new speculative concepts.

Acknowledgements \ Series Editor Preface \ Foreword \ Part I: Context \ 1. Childhood and the Child \ 2. Child's Play \ 3. Empowering the Child in Postmodernity \ Part II: Appearances \ 4. The Global Child \ 5. Talent \ 6. Tactility \ 7. Visibility \ 8. Invisibility \ Part III: Education \ 9. Vapour Trails and Noise \ 10. The Ambassador's Secret \ 11. Mind Games and Philosophy \ 12. Conclusion \ Bibliography \ Index