The Philosophical and Educational Big Bang: An Aristophanic-Deweyan Archaeology

The article will follow a possibly circuitous path: first, I will propose a cursory interpretation of the Kafka parable as a way of framing current reflections on the “use”2 and “role”3 of philosophy of education, in order to situate the question of this emergence within these debates; second, I will attempt to explore it through a reading of some texts by Dewey (in relation to a constellation of themes and issues revolving around a dialogue between the ideas of Plato and Aristophanes); and finally, I will retie the threads of the reflection by discussing what Gert Biesta has referred to as Dewey’s “imperialistic” claims in relation to philosophy and education