The paper focuses on working with philosophical literary stories, which by their nature, in addition to the development of children’s thinking can be useful in developing awareness of nature protection and sustainable living. Attitudes in solving environmental problems are related to education in the past, present and future. The inspiration for writing this paper is the educational program Philosophy for Children. The application part of this program includes several activities - reading philosophical stories, questions creating, philosophical discussion and other complementary activities. We consider Philosophy for Children as a form of applied philosophy, focused on the area of practical human interests.
In her text the author analyses what philosophising with children is. She tries to ponder the question whether it is possible and in what way one could assess progress in the philosophising of students. Taking as a starting point Matthew Lipman’s definition that critical thinking (in this context – philosophical thinking) “requires criteria, is self-correcting and sensitive to context”, she decides to claim that the ability to ask questions is the best test for this kind of thinking. A pedagogical experiment has been conducted in which two groups (a P4C group and a control group) have to write which of the questions that they have asked themselves have changed anything in their lives. It turned out that the PC4 students had questions coming from themselves (as opposed to external situations). These questions were abstract, existential in character, difficult to solve (as opposed to closed-ended questions); they ‘worked’ in the student longer and deeper (as opposed to a quick answer, lack of struggling); they changed the way of thinking of the students (as opposed to changing a particular decision); they remained unresolved (as opposed to finding a quick answer).
This article is devoted to the study of the educational approach based on Matthew Lipman’s Philosophy for Children. I examine its philosophical significance along with the concept of philosophy which underlies it and which is assumed in it. In addition, I describe the model of inquiry which has been developed using this approach, giving it the name of dialogical discussion. Referring to Gareth B. Matthews, I use the two meanings of the term “philosophy of childhood” – philosophical refection on childhood and philosophy created in childhood – in order to analyze the relationship between the philosophy of childhood and the philosophy of adults. I defend the thesis that inquiry, in which children explore the questions and insights made by children, is the practice of philosophy, not proto-philosophy or philosophy’s childhood. The opposite view I describe as didactical-philosophical paternalism, and it is consistent with the main prejudice which has dominated reflections on childhood so far. I situate the role of the teacher within the perspective of the autonomy of the philosophy of childhood from the hitherto existing philosophical tradition, and also within the perspective of interactions between these two discourses. In the conclusion, I sketch out some possibilities for developing the discussed issues.
In her text the author analyses what philosophising with children is. She tries to ponder the question whether it is possible and in what way one could assess progress in the philosophising of students. Taking as a starting point Matthew Lipman’s definition that critical thinking (in this context – philosophical thinking) “requires criteria, is self-correcting and sensitive to context”, she decides to claim that the ability to ask questions is the best test for this kind of thinking. A pedagogical experiment has been conducted in which two groups (a P4C group and a control group) have to write which of the questions that they have asked themselves have changed anything in their lives. It turned out that the PC4 students had questions coming from themselves (as opposed to external situations). These questions were abstract, existential in character, difficult to solve (as opposed to closed-ended questions); they ‘worked’ in the student longer and deeper (as opposed to a quick answer, lack of struggling); they changed the way of thinking of the students (as opposed to changing a particular decision); they remained unresolved (as opposed to finding a quick answer).
It is a pleasure to be able to thank the editors of Ethik und Sozialwissenschaften for inviting me to write this paper about the Philosophy for Children program, with which I have been associated since it began at the end of the 1960's
Towards the end of the seventies of the twentieth century American philosopher Matthew Lipman and his colleagues developed a method of philosophical inquiry with children and the youth, which, according to the author, allowed to supply inefficient system of education in the areas of supporting intellectual and social development of children. The Philosophy for Children scheme was aimed to develop critical thinking skills, reasoning, argumentation and dialogue. The idea of philosophizing with children in school has become an inspiration for many educational experiments carried out in various parts of the world. An important part of these experiments is the scheme’s evaluation, the aim of which is to investigate the effectiveness of the method and its impact on intellectual, emotional and social development of children. The article analyzes the 4 selected European researches, concerning the measurement of the impact of philosophical investigations on the development of children cognitive competence. It presents the basic methodological assumptions, the course of study and the results and conclusions of experiments. All of these experiments demonstrate the positive impact of methods to support the intellectual development of children. Despite this, the method is still seen only as an educational experiment and there is not wider application in education. From the analysis of research reports one can conclude that there is a need for in-depth and systematic study of the method of philosophical inquiry in education, inclusion in the study area, not only the effect of the impact of the program on children’s competence but also on the competence of teachers and broadly understood culture of the school.
The aim of the article is to examine the philosophical value of the famous and widespread American educational project of the “Philosophy in the Classroom”. To fulfil this task, the author analyses the key concepts and the basic premises of the project in terms of their consistency and philosophical background. The critique is embedded in the conceptual framework of Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy as well as of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics.
The paper adresses the problem of the need of balance between the static aspect (knowledge) and dynamic aspect (philosophizing) in the teaching of philosophy. The author indicates significant differences in teaching philosophy to adolescents and adults. The multitude of teaching issues specific to philosophy teaching, i. e. helping students in the creation of abstract philosophical concepts, requires the development of didactics of philosophy as an independent philosophical discipline.
The aim of the article is to examine the philosophical value of the famous and widespread American educational project of the “Philosophy in the Classroom”. To fulfil this task, the author analyses the key concepts and the basic premises of the project in terms of their consistency and philosophical background. The critique is embedded in the conceptual framework of Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy as well as of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics.
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