Abstract

The present collection constitutes what French poststructuralist philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995) dubbed rhizome, using this biological notion as a metaphor for multidirectional growth and diverse productivity irreducible to a single root representing epistemology grounded on a firm foundation for knowledge. A philosophical site, for Deleuze, consists of a multiplicity of planes including at once social, artistic, ethical, and affective dimensions. Experience is rendered meaningful not by grounding empirical particulars in abstract universals but by active experimentation on ourselves. Several of Deleuze’s philosophical works were written together with practicing psychoanalyst Felix Guattari, such a collaboration representing an approach to knowledge as shared and situated, and bringing philosophy ‘proper’ into closer contact with sociocultural issues and practical concerns. The potential of Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophical thought for educational theory and practice is explored in the seven papers comprising this special issue. Non-incidentally, the title of the first article, by Zelia Gregoriou (University of Cyprus), is ‘Commencing the Rhizome: Towards a minor philosophy of education’.