On behalf of the ICPIC Executive committee, I would like to welcome you to the 20th biennial ICPIC conference website in Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan. We are confident that this conference will offer rich educational and philosophical experiences through presentations and dialogues, formal and non-formal and informal, with a diverse and international company of scholars, academics, and practitioners.
We are devoting this conference to philosophy in and beyond the classroom: P4C across cultural, social, and political differences. Philosophy for/with Children and other forms of philosophical practices such as philosophy café has been developing rapidly and powerfully in Japan over the last two decades. Significantly, the major earthquakes and Tsunami in the Tohoku area in 2011 urged the Japanese people to reflect deeply on the fundamental value of life, human bonds, and the direction of their society and civilization. Under such circumstances, the Japanese people have seen the importance of dialogue on philosophical topics and its importance for citizens and school children.
Many Japanese children enjoy discussing philosophical subjects in a P4wC class, doing better than their teachers and parents’ expectations. More and more teachers are becoming eager to introduce the P4wC methods in their studies.
In ICPIC, we want once again that our conference will serve as a meeting place for research and practices around the world and a space for exchange of opinions to discuss creatively and critically as a community philosophy for/with children. In Tokyo, we want, once again, to bring together scholars and practitioners of philosophical inquiry with children to examine our work concerning the ideal of the free thinker. I want to invite you all to join us and to see ICPIC as your home.
Many thanks to the devoted team and the faculty in Tokyo for all their great efforts invested in the organization and the conference’s hosting. We are sure that this meeting will be a lively and vivid experience for all of us.
Looking forward to meeting you all at the conference as well as the pre and post-conference workshops,
Arie
Prof. Arie Kizel
President of ICPIC
Faculty of Education
University of Haifa, Israel
akizel@edu.haifa.ac.il