Abstract
The introductory study to the collective monograph summarizes the reasons why it is necessary to deal with the issue of inclusive education today and brings this issue into line with the principles of democratic thinking and social organization. It builds on Dewey's reflections on the necessity of establishing democratic education and is critical of the neoliberal tendency to see the problems of education reductively, mainly in an economic perspective.
In this context, the societal importance of humanistic studies and humanistic education is emphasized. The study also analyses two different conceptions of inclusion, humanistic and managerial and it exposes the key events towards the formulation of inclusive pedagogy during the 20th century.
The basic thesis of the chapter is that without inclusive education and schools, we cannot count on a true democracy. The chapter also introduces the themes of the collective co-authors of the entire monograph.