Dr Laura D’Olimpio

School of Education
Associate Professor of Philosophy of Education
College of Social Sciences Director of Postgraduate Research

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 415 8148
Email: l.dolimpio@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @Bluesky@lauradol4.bsky.social

View my research portal

Address: School of Education
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Dr Laura D’Olimpio is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Education and CoSS PGR Director at the University of Birmingham, UK. A philosopher interested in aesthetics, ethics and philosophy in schools, prior to taking up this position in 2019, Laura was Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at The University of Notre Dame Australia.

Her published books include Philosophy of Education (forthcoming 2025, Palgrave Macmillan); The Necessity of Aesthetic Education: the place of the arts on the curriculum (2024, Bloomsbury); Short Cuts: Philosophy (2023, Icon Books); Educating Character Through the Arts (2023, Routledge) and Media and Moral Education: a philosophy of critical engagement (2018, Routledge).

Laura completed her PhD ‘The Moral Possibilities of Mass Art’ in Philosophy at The University of Western Australia. She is co-founding editor of the open access Journal of Philosophy in Schools and a regular contributor to public philosophy outlets such as The Conversation, Philosophy Now magazine, The Ethics Centre, and ABC Radio National’s Philosopher’s Zone and The Minefield.

Staff details
Media information

Open all sections

Qualifications

PhD in Philosophy, University of Western Australia (UWA)
Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Philosophy, UWA

Teaching

BA Education
MA Education

Postgraduate supervision

Laura D'Olimpio supervises postgraduate research students working in the fields of philosophy and philosophy of education.

She has particular expertise in the following areas:

Moral education
Moral philosophy and applied ethics
Aesthetics; particularly aesthetics and ethics
Philosophy in schools
Media, mass art, technology and digital literacy
Philosophy of film and literature
Virtue ethics and character education
Public philosophy

Research

Laura’s recently published second monograph, The Necessity of Aesthetic Education: the place of the arts on the curriculum (2024, Bloomsbury), defends the necessity of arts education for all school-aged students on the basis of its distinctive value. In this ‘manifesto’, Laura claims that life without access to aesthetic experiences is diminished and therefore educators have a responsibility to cultivate a receptiveness to what the multiple and various arts offer. You can hear her being interviewed on this topic on ABC Radio National’s ‘The Philosopher’s Zone’: ‘How important is aesthetic education?’ which aired in February 2025.

Laura’s first monograph, Media and Moral Education: a philosophy of critical engagement (Routledge, 2018), claims that philosophical thinking skills support the adoption of an attitude she calls ‘critical perspectivism’. Critical perspectivism gives citizens the ability to engage with multiple perspectives, particularly those received via online media, in a critical and compassionate manner. This monograph won the 2018 PESA (Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia) Annual Book Award.

Laura is currently writing a textbook designed to support the teaching of Philosophy of Education. Co-authored with Jane Gatley and Ruth Wareham, Philosophy of Education is due to be published in 2025 in Palgrave’s ‘Philosophy Today’ book series. The key concepts explored in this book include learning, teaching, indoctrination, knowledge, equality, intelligence, virtue, and rights. Each chapter firstly examines one key concept which is then connected to a theorised aim of education. The aims considered are rationality (i.e. critical thinking), epistemic, social justice, vocational, flourishing, and political (i.e. citizenship). Each chapter concludes with a third section connecting the key concept and aim of education under discussion to an applied example. Also included are study and research tools such as suggestions for further readings, research or essay questions and a chapter summary.

A proponent of public philosophy, Laura has also edited a public philosophy book, Short Cuts: Philosophy (2023, Icon Books). Here, 50 ‘big questions’ are explored with short, quick-fire and longer answers, plus an illustrated concept or thought experiment accompanying each key idea. The book also contains mind maps and definitions, along with resources for further exploration into the topics that are of most interest.

Publications

Recent publications

Book

D'Olimpio, L, Gatley, J & Wareham, R 2025, Philosophy of Education. Palgrave Philosophy Today, 1 edn, Palgrave Macmillan.

D'Olimpio, L 2024, The Necessity of Aesthetic Education: The place of the arts on the curriculum . Bloomsbury Philosophy of Education, 1st edn, Bloomsbury Publishing, London. <https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/necessity-of-aesthetic-education-9781350120907/>

D'Olimpio, L 2023, Short Cuts: Philosophy: Navigate Your Way Through Big Ideas. Short Cuts, Icon Books, London. <https://iconbooks.com/ib-title/short-cuts-philosophy/>

D'Olimpio, L, Paris, P & Thompson, A (eds) 2022, Educating Character Through the Arts. Routledge International Studies in the Philosophy of Education, 1st edn, Routledge, Abingdon, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003148852

Article

D'Olimpio, L 2024, 'What's Wrong with Wishful Thinking? “Manifesting” as an Epistemic Vice', Educational Theory. https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12653

D'Olimpio, L 2023, 'Educating the Rational Emotions: An Affective Response to Extremism', Educational Theory, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 394-412. https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12579

D'Olimpio, L 2023, 'The Limits to Dialogue', Oxford Review of Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2023.2268513

D'Olimpio, L 2022, 'Aesthetica and eudaimonia: education for flourishing must include the arts', Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 238-250. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12661

D'Olimpio, L 2022, 'How ought we defend aesthetic education?', Beijing International Review of Education, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 339-342. https://doi.org/10.1163/25902539-04030004

Buchanan, RA, Forster, DJ, Douglas, S, Nakar, S, Boon, HJ, Heath, T, Heyward, P, D’Olimpio, L, Ailwood, J, Eacott, S, Smith, S, Peters, M & Tesar, M 2022, 'Philosophy of education in a new key: Exploring new ways of teaching and doing ethics in education in the 21st century', Educational Philosophy and Theory, vol. 54, no. 8, pp. 1178-1197. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2021.1880387

Chapter

D’Olimpio, L 2022, Heroines and sexy victims: what we learn from female protagonists. in L D'Olimpio, P Paris & AP Thompson (eds), Educating Character Through the Arts. 1st edn, Routledge International Studies in the Philosophy of Education, Routledge, pp. 66-83. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003148852-6

D’Olimpio, L, Paris, P & Thompson, AP 2022, Introduction. in L D'Olimpio, P Paris & AP Thompson (eds), Educating Character Through the Arts. 1st edn, Routledge International Studies in the Philosophy of Education, Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003148852-1

Digital or Visual Products

D'Olimpio, L & Bortolotti, L, Peacock's Art Exhibition: How should we interpret an artwork, 2024, Digital or Visual Products, Online. <https://youtu.be/n639rC0CbHs>

Editorial

D'Olimpio, L & Hand, M 2023, 'Symposium introduction: education against extremism', Educational Theory, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 337-340. https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12580

Web publication/site

Bortolotti, L, Murphy-Hollies, K, D'Olimpio, L, Reglitz, M, Williams, J & Brozzo, C, The Philosophy Garden, 2023, Web publication/site. <https://sites.google.com/view/the-philosophy-garden/home>

View all publications in research portal

Media experience

Laura was the top contributor to The Conversation for the University of Notre Dame Australia (2014-2018). She has written for public philosophy publications such as Philosophy Now magazine, ABC’s Religion and Ethics website, and is currently writing for The Ethics Centre.

She is often interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Association (ABC) and is a regular contributor to their Radio National programmes, including Philosopher’s Zone and The Minefield.

Selected public philosophy publications:

Articles

2025 ‘Because a life without aesthetic experiences is impoverished, educating students for the arts is a necessity’ ABC Religion and Ethics website.
2024 ‘Manifesting has a dark side – there are problems with believing our thoughts have so much power’, The Conversation UK.
2020 ‘How philosophy can help children cope with uncertain times’ The Conversation UK.
2019 ‘Why we need defenders of the truth in a post-truth world’ for TES (Times Educational Supplement).
2018 ‘Moral education for digital natives’ Philosophy Now.
2017 ‘Moral education and critical thinking are vital in a digital age’ ABC Religion and Ethics website.
2017 ‘Philosophy’s Consolation: Can we recover the love of wisdom in an age of rampant fakery?’ ABC Religion and Ethics website.
2017 ‘Lost in Translation’ Philosophy Now.
2017 ‘Educating compassionate citizens or educating for compassion’ Radio National Philosopher’s Zone Website.
2016 ‘Fear, trust, and the social contract: What's lost in a society on permanent alert’ ABC Website.
2016 ‘How do you know you’re not living in a computer simulation?’ The Conversation.
2016 ‘First as Pokémon, then as farce? The risks of the modern culture industry’ ABC Religion and Ethics website.
2016 ‘The trolley dilemma: would you kill one person to save five?’ The Conversation.
2016 ‘What good is public philosophy’ ABC Radio National website.
2015 ‘Unleashing the Creative’ ABC Radio National website

Radio interviews

5 Feb 2025 ‘How important is aesthetic education?’ interviewed for ABC Radio National ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
26 Jan 2024 ‘On aesthetics and education’ interviewed for PES podcast ‘Thinking in the Midst’
14 Oct 2023 ‘Art for art’s sake: the case for aesthetics in teaching’ interviewed for Teacher’s Talk radio
8 May 2022 ‘Beauty: aesthetic or moral ideal?’ Guest Producer for ABC Radio National ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
3 April 2022 ‘Moral beauty and art’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
13 March 2022 ‘Extremism’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
23 Feb 2020 ‘Is reason enough?’ Guest Producer for ABC Radio National ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
19 Aug 2018 ‘Ethics and absolutes in the classroom’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
29 Apr 2018 ‘Who are you?’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
18 Mar 2018 ‘Philosophy for Children: the why and the how’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
15 Oct 2017 ‘Facts and trust in a post-truth world’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
17 Sept 2017 ‘Tell me one thing that’s absolutely true’ interviewed for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
8 Mar 2017 ‘What chance does political honesty have in a post-truth age?’ Guest host for ABC Radio National’s ‘The Minefield’
29 Jan 2017 ‘Compassion: caught or taught?’. Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
23 Oct 2016 ‘The Social Contract in an age of terror: who can you trust?’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
14 July 2016 ‘Pokémon Go: Revolution, Fad or Omen?’ interviewed for The Minefield with Waleed Aly & Scott Stephens
22 May 2016 ‘A public act’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
25 Oct 2015 ‘The young and the reasonable’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
31 May 2015 ‘Creatively unleashed’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’
4 July 2014 ‘Is film a useful medium for philosophical discussion?’ Guest Producer for ‘Philosopher’s Zone’