Enlightening through children—playing and thinking together in new ways
In: Children & society, Band 37, Heft 4, S. 1052-1065
ISSN: 1099-0860
AbstractThe undertaking in this article is primarily to recall the basic meaning of enlightenment as a self‐active thinking movement. I show that enlightenment is not something to be taught, but rather the encouragement to think for yourself and, subsequently, to think anew; and this applies to the same degree to children and adults. I suggest a childist critique of enlightenment by addressing, first, enlightenment's overlooked adultist conception, giving, second, a brief practical insight into the children's polylogue, and, finally, re‐adjusting the understanding of enlightenment by referring to Hannah Arendt's considerations about world‐building and John Wall's thoughts about play.