In my doctoral dissertation, I examine Jane Addams’ philosophy of education and her influence in the educational theory and practice of the playworker training schools of Hull-House founded by Neva Boyd. I historically and philosophically analyzed Addams' work on children's play in connection to the playground movement and explored her connection with Boyd's educational ideas and practices.

In the same line of thought as the playground movement, Addams argued the need for the creation of organized and supervised play spaces to protect children and adolescents from the dangers of the industrialized cities. However, the way in which she justified the need for a safe space was particularly different from that of many social reformers. In my dissertation, I argue that Addams' philosophy of education was a practical and theoretical example of how aesthetic experiences -such as theater, dance, music or children's play, educationally organized and supervised provided children and adolescents of different cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds with opportunities for socializing democracy and find a collective and associated way of life.

The aesthetic experiences were an educational response to three main human challenges of the cities of the early twentieth century: social isolation, aesthetic insensitivity, and the rise of imperialist and militaristic nationalism. According to her works, the vulnerable living conditions in which children and adolescents of the city grew up led them to what she called a state of “aesthetic insensitivity” (Addams, 1909, pp.154-155). This state not only frustrated their attempts for appreciating beauty, joy, and hope but also collapsed their powerful romantic ideals to reimagine and act towards the transformation of a cosmopolitan society. In response to such a state of aesthetic insensitivity, Hull-House organized a variety of aesthetic experiences for children and adolescents. 

The methodology used is based on the approach of the historian Martyn P. Thompson (1993) who deals with this type of analysis through the contextualization of the ideas of the thinkers that are studied. The philosophical and historical interpretative analysis draws from Quentin Skinner’s interpretation theory (1968), Rosa Bruno-Jofré’s working understanding of configuration (2019), and Hansen’s concept of educational cosmopolitism (2008). The methodology is based on the examination of primary and secondary sources on the notion of play and education by pragmatists. The compilation of primary and secondary sources was carried out through the design and development of a review of the databases of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), the Summon catalogue of Queen's University (Ontario, Canada) and the Jane Addams Digital Edition project.

The educational value of aesthetic experiences was framed from a cosmopolitan prism. According to Addams, while sharing aesthetic experiences children and adolescent could discover that beyond their differences they had a deep common bond that allowed them to collectively reimagine democracy. She referred to children’s play as the aesthetic experience that allowed not only the anticipation of life but also the opportunity to imagine it differently through the pleasure of reconstructing the memory of aesthetic experiences such as dances, games, and folk songs of diverse nationalities. Therefore, children's play allowed the construction of a cosmopolitan way of life “big enough” to embrace all sensibilities. Aesthetic experiences stimulated the cosmopolitan endeavor to associate with each other and accept the challenge of building up more diverse, fair, and egalitarian societies. Ultimately, Addams believed that through aesthetic experiences children and adolescents cultivated what she called “cosmic patriotism” (Addams, 1907, p.261).

Addams, J. (1909). The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. University of Illinois Press. Addams, J. (2007). Newer Ideals of Peace. University of Illinois Press. Bruno-Jofré, R. (2019). Localizing Dewey’s Notions of Democracy and Education: A Journey Across Configurations in Latin America. Journal of the History of Ideas, 80(3), 433–53. Hansen, D. T. (2008). Curriculum and the Idea of a Cosmopolitan Inheritance. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 40(3), 289-312. Skinner, Q. (1968). Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas. History and Theory, 8 (1), 3-53.