November 2024 will be the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) at Montclair State College (now University) in Montclair, New Jersey, USA. Matthew Lipman moved to Montclair State from the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Columbia University in 1972. In 1973 he convened a “Conference on Pre-College Philosophy,” where he met Ann Margaret Sharp–a new hire in the Department of Educational Foundations. The two began collaborating and co-founded the IAPC in 1974. Philosophy for Children quickly drew international attention, and IAPC affiliate centers began to blossom around the world. Scores of international visiting scholars studied with Lipman and Sharp at the IAPC and hundreds more attended their residential courses at Mendham, New Jersey, graduated from Montclair’s masters and doctoral programs in Philosophy for Children, and contributed original research to the IAPC journal Thinking.

In commemoration of this important anniversary, part of the Philosophy with Children Section of the XXV World Congress of Philosophy convening 1-8 August 2024 in Rome, Italy, will comprise scholarly papers and panel presentations on the theme, “50 Years of the IAPC: Looking Back to Look Forward.” Topics related to this theme include, but are not limited to:

• What effect did IAPC programs and/or your personal or professional relationships with Lipman/Sharp have on your scholarship and/or teaching, and on education in your context?
• How was the Lipman/Sharp curriculum adapted, transformed, and supplemented in your context, and to what effect?
• What has become of the Lipman/Sharp agenda of producing curricular philosophical stories and novels? 
• What has been the significance of the IAPC journal Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children?
• What has been the significance of the IAPC column/weblog ‘Thinking in Stories,’ inaugurated by Gareth B. Matthews in 1979 to support philosophizing with children’s literature and other media?
• What other IAPC programs were, or were not, effective, e.g., visiting scholars, residential courses at Mendham, degree programs?
• In what sense has globalization enhanced and/or compromised the IAPC approach to philosophy for children?
• In what sense is the IAPC model of teacher education still relevant and viable?
• What has become of the IAPC focus on education for democracy, social justice, and global citizenship?
• What has become of the IAPC agenda for philosophy across school subjects?
• To what extent is the Lipman/Sharp theory of critical, creative, and caring thinking still important? 

We also hope to organise a roundtable discussion with selected participants, as a culminating session for this contribution to the Congress.

Guidelines and procedures for submissions are available on the World Congress of Philosophy website. Papers are restricted to 1800 words. The following link will take you to the relevant page, from which you can navigate to the online Submission Platform. 

Submissions - WCP 2024 (wcprome2024.com)

While the deadline for submissions is 10 November, 2023, we would appreciate it if you can let us know as soon as possible that you are intending to make a submission, so that we can keep track of this important contribution to the Philosophy with Children Section. 

Warm regards,

Maughn Gregory, Director, Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children gregorym@montclair.edu

Philip Cam, Co-convenor, Philosophy with Children Section of the XXV World Congress of Philosophy p.cam@unsw.edu.au