Educational Philosophy and Theory

Intelligence Beyond the Artificial

Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a general-purpose technology with direct application to education and learning. AI is expected to reshape educational curricula and assessment, scientific research, and the broad contours of academic inquiry. However, this Special Issue invites essays that seek to answer the question: what forms of human intelligence remain essential to human development in an age of algorithms? Moving beyond familiar debates about the role of AI as either a tool or a threat, this special issue examines the impact of machine intelligence on learning and cognition, exploring the features of human intelligence that machines cannot yet replicate: empathy, ethical judgment, creative intuition, self-expression, and self-creation (autopoiesis).

Drawing on classical educational thinkers such as Jean Piaget, John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky, we welcome research and analysis that examines human intelligence as a socially mediated process (Piaget, 1936; Bateson, G. 1972; Vygotsky, 1978; Rømer, 2012; Irwin, 2025). Specifically, arguments should explore the philosophy of learning and education and highlight key aspects of human creativity and problem-solving that transcend (and include) the artificial.

We invite proposals that explore philosophies of creativity and learning that depend less on competing with AI and more on cultivating the forms of intelligence that give humanity its meaning and purpose. Established and early-career researchers whose work centres on learning/education and intersects with psychology, ecology, sociology, public policy, and machine learning are welcome. 

 Thematic areas

Contributions should reference classic and modern interpretations of intelligence to underscore theories and philosophies of mind. Thinkers may include John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Jean Piaget, J.C.R. Licklider, Jean Lave & Etienne Wenger, Gregory Bateson, Kwesi Wiredu, Valentin-Yves Mudimbe, etc. Questions to consider: Does the definition of intelligence change with AI, and if so, how? How might we reconsider the nature of intelligence in light of machines that can think? Is there a relationship between ecological, sociological, and technological interpretations of human intelligence? Further, submissions may also explore the strengths and weaknesses of past theories of intelligence and their contemporary application to AI and AI-mediated education. More specifically,

• AI, learning, and human cognitive development: essays may investigate how AI reshapes learning processes while asking what remains distinctively human in educational development.
• Ecologically and socially mediated learning: contributions should focus on learning as embodied, contextual, relational, and socially constructed, drawing for example on Piaget, Dewey, Vygotsky, Bateson and situated learning theories.
• Wisdom, ethics, and educational judgment: essays could examine the role of wisdom, ethical discernment, responsibility, and value-based judgment in an era increasingly shaped by machine intelligence.
• Cognitive and socio-emotional competence: submissions could consider how cognitive skills, emotional intelligence, empathy, collaboration, and interpersonal understanding should be cultivated alongside AI literacy.
• Culture, identity, and resilience in the algorithmic age: papers could explore how cultural traditions, indigenous philosophies, local knowledge systems, and human resilience inform alternative interpretations of intelligence.
• AI, curriculum, and assessment reform: contributions in this area could analyse how educational curricula, assessment systems, and academic standards should respond to the rise of generative AI and intelligent software systems.
• Human–AI collaboration in education: essays under this theme examine human and AI symbiosis in augmenting learning and creativity.
• Creativity, imagination, and meaning-making: submissions under this theme could investigate creative intuition, aesthetic judgment, critical reasoning, narrative understanding, and the human search for meaning as dimensions of intelligence
• Global and comparative perspectives on intelligence are encouraged, particularly papers that compare Western, African, Asian, indigenous, and cross-cultural traditions of thought to broaden the concept of intelligence beyond narrow technical definitions.

References

Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind: Collected essays in anthropology, psychiatry, evolution, and epistemology. Chandler Publishing Co.

Irwin, R. (2025) Stiegler and Butler on AI and the evolution of intelligence, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 57:5, 473-488.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2024.2446386

Piaget, J. (1936). Origins of intelligence in the child. Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Rømer, T. A. (2012). Imagination and judgment in John Dewey's philosophy: Intelligent transactions in a democratic context. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44(2), 133-150. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00623.x

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.