Re-Thinking and New Thinking in Comparative Education: A Legacy and a Challenge for the Future

A continuous effort to put in relation and to combine ‘re-thinking’ and ‘new thinking’ is one of the characteristic features of most of the writings of Robert Cowen, interweaving and combining a discussion of the state of the art of each of the themes addressed, including the relevant trends historically emerged in the area, with a theoretical reflection on the possible trajectories and new prospects for further evolution. This aspect runs through all Cowen’s production, and can also be seen in his most recent work, up to his very last essays, that focus precisely on the future of comparative studies (Cowen 2022, 2023). This paper will try to investigate the connection between those two moments of ‘thinking’ addressed by Bob Cowen, coessential to each other, intending to propose some lines of development with regard to the possible role of the comparativist and the responsibility of comparative education, from a theoretical as well as an ethical-political point of view: thus gathering a legacy, and at the same time taking up a challenge for the future that cannot be evaded.