Camhy Daniela G.

"Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage", says Kant. And continues: "Tutelage is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another." The question of enlightenment is not only relevant in Kant's time, but also today. Might the enlightened, responsible and autonomous subject be endangered? Where are the most inhibitions on the way to independent thinking? Are radicalization, emotions and irrationality taking the lead? Why debate on enlightenment today? The International Congress for the Philosophy of Children devoted itself to these questions. The complexity of the modern world, the variety of choices, the scientific progress, the emergence of numerous expert cultures, the complexity of the conditions present us with enormous challenges. So, how about education and enlightenment?

Can the concept of gesture be a basis for interpretation of architecture? Do we have the possibility to understand the meaning of a work of architecture through the study of its gesture? When the language philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, who grew up in Vienna, remarked around 1930 “Architecture is a gesture. Not every purposive movement of the human body is a gesture. Just as little as every functional building is architecture.” he himself had already gained practical experience in designing a city palace for his sister Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein (Gretl) in Vienna ́s Kundmanngasse. In the collaboration with the Viennese architect Paul Engelmann, and the architect of Moravian origin Jacques Groag, both of them influenced by their teacher Adolf Loos, one of the acclaimed masters of the 20th Century architecture, he got very interested and involved in the project of co-designing the house for his sister Gretl. For Wittgenstein, philosophy and architecture are closely connected. The “Wittgenstein house” still is regarded as one of the most important examples of interaction between philosophy and architecture. Not only that architecture presents an invitation to philosophical reflection, in Wittgenstein's view both architecture and philosophy, as one of the arts, can be "sub specie aeternitatis". Wittgenstein ́s design method is unique and stands for clarity – an ideal of his work in both architecture and philosophy. In this paper I want to explore Wittgenstein ́s metaphor “Architecture is a gesture” and his methods that might allow us to understand the meaning of a work of architecture through the study of its gesture and further look for answers to the question of what gestures are.

Das Aufwachsen der Kinder hat sich in Folge gesellschaftlicher, wirtschaftlicher und sozialer Veränderungen in vielerlei Hinsicht gewandelt. Diese schnellen Veränderungen unserer heutigen Lebensweisen führen manchmal zu Orientierungslosigkeit, vor allem bei Kindern und Jugendlichen, die mit einer Reihe von neuen Problemen fertig werden müssen. Es kommt zu Problemen im Bereich der Beziehungen zwischen sich voneinander entfernenden Generationen und Schwierigkeiten, die sich aus nationaler und transnationaler Kommunikation und Sozialisierung ergeben. Auch das persönliche Leben, Schule, Lernen, Arbeit und Freizeit sind davon betroffen, kein Aspekt des Lebens wird ausgelassen.

In this paper I want to analyse the meaning of the community of inquiry in multiethnic contexts and introduce best practice examples from Austria. The idea of community and the practice of philosophy are central to the work in Philosophy for Children. The development of community of inquiry is not only a method forfostering philosophical dialogue, it is a process that also leads to educational practice with community activity. So it has much to offer for the education for democracy: it can prepare young people for life in a culturally and ethnically diverse society. A philosophy for children community provides an ideal framework for working out intersubjective perceptions and understanding of complex cultural differences. It is one way that the next generation will be prepared socially and cognitively to engage in the necessary dialogue, judging and questioning what is vital to existence for a democratic society.