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Abstract

This paper shows that philosophy and contemplation are integral parts of leisure (scholé) and of a fully conscious educative experience. Through examination of the concepts of philosophy, the philosopher, and contemplation, it will be proposed that leisure is a necessary condition for philosophy and for education. To conceptually bring together philosophy and education with leisure, the act of teaching as “an overflow of contemplation,” following Yves Simon’s definition, will be considered. Supporting the philosophical view of education as constituting an inward transformation of the individual, from which he or she can better regard the world and his or her place in it, a serious theory of education rooted on leisure is a timely and valuable idea to consider.

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Notes

  1. Pieper (1963), 22.

  2. Hadot (1995), 269.

  3. Morgan, 145.

  4. Morgan, 145.

  5. Gary (2006), 121–136.

  6. Gary, 135.

  7. The original Plato citation reads: “Until philosophers rule as kings in cities or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophize […] cities will have no rest from evils, Glaucon, nor, I think, will the human race” (473d).

  8. Pieper, The Philosophical Act, 78.

  9. White (1997), 233–247.

  10. Higgins (2011), 451–466.

  11. Slattery (1995), 612–633.

  12. Pieper, 89. Pieper also mentions in “The Condition of Philosophy in the Modern World” that another cause of death of philosophy is the desire to make it ‘practical’. This effort, he writes, began with Francis Bacon and later on with René Descartes, as this last one tried to use practical philosophy to enable us to “become owners and masters of nature” (12).

  13. Pieper, “The Philosophical Act” in Leisure: The Basis of Culture, 80.

  14. Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture, 46–47.

  15. Pieper, 92.

  16. Pieper, “The Philosophical Act” in Leisure: The Basis of Culture, 111.

  17. Hansen, 33.

  18. Murris (2000), 261–280.

  19. Haynes and Murris (2011), 285–303.

  20. Gazzard (1996), 9–16.

  21. Ravitch, 3.

  22. Yves (1971).

  23. Buchmann (1989), 35–61.

  24. Kemp (2006), 174.

  25. White (1980), 253–263.

  26. Education as formation is supported by the tradition of the Bildungsroman, especially found in Rousseau’s Émile. Michel de Montaigne also referenced this conception of formation in his famous statement concerning the educator whose mind should be well-formed rather than merely well-filled in “On Educating Children”.

  27. Hansen, 40.

  28. Carr and Skinner (2009), 150.

  29. Carr, 141.

  30. Carr, 150–151, 153.

  31. Gary (2009), 190.

  32. Sen (2000), 607–615.

  33. Sen, 608.

  34. Portelli (1990), 141–161.

  35. Buchmann (1989), 35–61 and Caranfa (2010), 561–585. Both authors propose that contemplation is intimately linked to attention, which is a kind of vision.

  36. Josef Sen writes: “Epictetus carries [pausing] further into the realm of perception. The point for Epictetus is not to be overwhelmed by harmful emotions and this can be done if we slow down the pace of our judgments […] We need to instill a moment of reflection into the flow of appearances, to come to the realization that this flow is not inevitable but subject to modification through the attention we give to it” (610).

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Correspondence to Givanni M. Ildefonso-Sanchez.

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Ildefonso-Sanchez, G.M. Revaluing Leisure in Philosophy and Education. Stud Philos Educ 38, 163–176 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-019-09651-6

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