ABSTRACT

This book articulates a unique conception of aesthetic educational philosophy and its relation to the Chinese world, drawing on the works of the prominent contemporary Chinese philosopher Zehou Li.

The book outlines an aesthetics approach to educational maturity that recognises both the contributions of Western Enlightenment ideals and Chinese traditions, paving the way for an inclusive and post-comparative philosophy. It offers a nuanced discussion of Zehou Li’s thought and how his work can be framed at the border between traditional and modern China, between China and the West. The book combines a discussion of aesthetics with educational theory and considers their combined implications for educational practice (in particular in the first-person perspectives of students, parents and teachers), in both local and global contexts.

Providing a way of doing philosophy of education that carefully considers interactions and overlaps between Western and Chinese civilisation, the book will be of great interest to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of educational philosophy, educational theory, and Chinese and cross-cultural philosophy.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

part I|24 pages

Educational maturity and an ‘aesthetic’ proposal

chapter Chapter 1|15 pages

The ‘school sloth’ and the educational maturity

chapter Chapter 2|7 pages

An ‘aesthetic’ proposal for educational maturity

part II|89 pages

The transcultural Chinese aesthetics through Zehou Li's lens

chapter Chapter 3|20 pages

Aesthetic metaphysics

By analysing the slogan ‘replacement of religion with aesthetics’

chapter Chapter 4|21 pages

Aesthetic ethics

Juxtaposing two types of morality and moral reasoning

chapter Chapter 5|23 pages

The aesthetic theory of subjectivity

‘Subjectality’

part III|47 pages

The aesthetics-education approach

chapter Chapter 7|14 pages

A mature student

Student maturity that is both emergent and sedimenting

chapter Chapter 8|15 pages

Grown-up parents

Through the second-order educational reclamation that fosters ‘a layered self’

chapter Chapter 9|12 pages

Mature teachers

Teachers' aesthetic professionalism, practice and policy

chapter |4 pages

Conclusion