The purpose of this book is to develop a theory and practice of education from Karl Popper’s falsificationist philosophy for promoting an open society.  Specifically, the book is designed to develop an educational programme for achieving Popper’s ideal of fostering critical thinking in children for full participation in an open democratic society.

Arguing that Matthew Lipman’s Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme can fulfil the requirements of Popper’s educational ideal in schools, this study conducted an experiment to assess the effectiveness of the programme in promoting students’ critical thinking in Hong Kong, China – arguably a Confucian heritage society. The students who were taught P4C were found to perform better in the reasoning test than those who were not, to be capable of discussing philosophical problems in a competent way, and to have a very positive attitude towards doing philosophy in the classroom. It was also found that P4C played a major role in developing the students’ critical thinking.

Considering that the construction of children by adults as incompetent in the sense of lacking reason, maturity, or independence reinforces the traditional structure of adult authority over children in society, it runs counter to the goal of fostering critical thinking in children. As a way to return justice to childhood and to effectively promote critical thinking in children, this study suggested reconstructing the concept of childhood, highlighting the importance of establishing a coherent public policy on promotion of agency in children and also the importance of empowering them to participate actively in research, legal, and educational institutions.

Montclair State University is considering a major reconstruction of the focus and the delivery of its Ed.D. in Pedagogy and Philosophy. The purpose of this survey is to gauge interest in the new program. We ask you to read the description below and answer the following questions. The survey should only take a few minutes to complete. Your responses will be completely anonymous, will not commit you to any further involvement and will not place your name on any email lists. We appreciate your help.

Montclair State University is now developing an Ed.D. in Pedagogical Studies. This program will be one of a very few in the country that is focused on philosophical and empirical research into three overlapping but distinct forms of democratic pedagogy: community of inquiry, critical pedagogy, and contemplative/existential practice. It will also offer in-state tuition for all out of state and international graduate students.

The innovative, hybrid delivery format will offer cohorts of students from around the world flexibility to remain educational practitioners in their communities while also completing a doctoral degree in philosophy, theory, and research. Seminars will be held online in a virtual environment, and each semester, students will be offered the opportunity to engage in week-long, intensive residencies in a variety of international settings where they will present their work in student conferences; meet with advisors and faculty to facilitate independent research; practice community of inquiry, critical pedagogy, and mindfulness; and attend lectures by local scholars, educators, and intellectuals.

Overall, an Ed.D. in Pedagogical Studies will provide a unique opportunity for those who wish to participate in the highest level of theoretical and empirical research, to apply that scholarship to the work of teacher education, and/or to integrate transformative and democratic pedagogical theories into their practices.

Graduates from the Ed.D. in Pedagogical Studies will be able to:

1) Bring together pedagogical practice and theory to become a philosophical educator, counselor, or consultant
2) Promote democracy and social justice through transformative approaches to education in a variety of settings
3) Understand educational issues within a global perspective
4) Develop the skills and dispositions necessary for conducting philosophical and empirical research into pedagogy and curriculum

ON WORLD PHILOSOPHY DAY, UN HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF CRITICAL THINKING AND REFLECTION

The diversity of philosophies prevalent around the world is humanity's greatest asset to building an inclusive and tolerant global citizenry, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said today, marking the tenth edition of World Philosophy Day.

In her message for the Day, UNESCO's Director-General, Irina Bokova, called on nations to invest more in philosophical training for schoolchildren while stressing the "urgent need" to pass on to the world's youth "the taste for philosophy, its rigour and its joys, from the earliest age."

"UNESCO reaffirms the power of philosophy to change the world, because it can help us to change ourselves by giving weight to our indignation before injustice, lucidity to ask the right questions, and conviction to defend human dignity," Ms. Bokova said.

"In all these ways, it holds the key to a new humanism," she added, underlining the significance of philosophy in making "sense of questions of peace and sustainable development."

World Philosophy Day is celebrated every third Thursday of November since 2002, with the aim of making philosophical reflection accessible to all -- professors and students, scholars and the general public -- thereby enlarging the opportunities and spaces for the stimulation of critical thinking and debate.

The Day -- for which the theme this year is 'future generations' -- is being celebrated with a number of events, including roundtables, debates and concerts, held in Paris, where UNESCO is headquartered, and at other venues around the world. In addition, a group of schoolchildren will place messages in a time capsule destined to be eventually opened by children of their own age in the year 2062.

Ms. Bokova pointed out that the philosophical tradition was both a meeting point and a culmination of UNESCO's mandate, providing meaning to the content of culture and science and drawing on the free movement of ideas.

"Beyond all of our differences, we are all equal in the exercise of reason," she continued. "This is the sure way to build fairer, more equitable societies, sustained by the energy of critical thinking."

• Jana Mohr Lone: Questions and the Community Of Philosophical Inquiry

• Maughn Gregory: A Behavioral Pedagogy for the Community of Inquiry

• Anne Sharp: The Classroom Community of Inquiry as Ritual: How we can Cultivate Wisdom

• David Kennedy: The Community of Inquiry and Educational Structure

• Samuel Scolnicov: The problematic Community of Inquiry: The Socrates and Kant of Lipman and Dewey

• Philip Cam: Pragmatism and the Community Of Inquiry

The P4C Co-operative has just created the first edition of 'If .. then:  An Online Compilation Journal for P4C'.

Philosophy for Children has a long tradition of scholarship that should be more widely known. Articles have not always been easy to access and a long-standing journals are now discontinued. We thought it would be interesting and useful to select articles from the last thirty years and organise them around significant themes. We hope this will stimulate new thinking, discussion and writing.

The theme of the first edition is: 'The Community of Inquiry". Read the journal at: www.p4c.com/if-then.

• hvem er jeg

• mitt og ditt

• vennskap

• raushet og gjestfrihet

• tanker

• følelser

• leve sammen

• liv og død

• En kort presentasjon av hvert tema, beregnet på de voksne.

• Samantas superblikk: Barn og voksne observerer tegningen med Samantas skarpe forskerblikk.

• Lexingtons grublespørsmål: Kan brukes direkte i samtalen med barna, men også ment som en forberedelse for den voksne.

• Busters tenkeleker: Her skal barna gruble med utgangspunkt i noe praktisk: bilder, figurer, en lek osv.

• Lesetips: Forslag til relevant barnelitteratur.

Picturebooks, Pedagogy and Philosophy

Joanna Haynes and Karin Murris

Contemporary picturebooks open up spaces for philosophical dialogues between people of all ages. As works of art, picturebooks offer unique opportunities to explore ideas and to create meaning collaboratively. This book considers censorship of certain well-known picturebooks, challenging the assumptions on which this censorship is based. Through a lively exploration of children's responses to these same picturebooks the authors paint a way of working philosophically based on respectful listening and creative and authentic interactions, rather than scripted lessons. This dialogical process challenges much current practice in education. The authors propose that a courageous and critical practice of listening is central to the facilitation of mutually educative dialogue. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of education studies, philosophy of education, literacy teaching and learning, children's literature, childhood and pedagogy.

Selected Table of Contents

Introduction: Censorship and Controversy in the Classroom

Part One: Provocative Picturebooks

• 1. Playing with Dangerous Picturebooks

• 2. Not So Innocent Picturebooks

• 3. From Philosophical Novels to Picturebooks

• 4. Picturebooks as Philosophical Texts

• 5. Emotions and Picturebooks

• 6. Literary and Philosophical Responses to Picturebooks

Part Two: Being Child

• 7. Slippage Between Realms

• 8. Talking Dogs and Moving Bears: The Realm of Meaning

• 9. Philosophy, Adult and Child

• 10. Authenticity of Knowledge and Understanding

Part Three: Philosophical Listening

• 11. Listening and Juggling in Philosophical Space

• 12. Listening and Not Listening in Schools

• 13. Towards a Critical Practice of Philosophical Listening.

Appendix A: List of Picturebooks Discussed in the Book

Philosophical thinking

Make philosophy a regular feature of school life, says Peter Worley of educational charity The Philosophy Foundation

Philosophy equips children with invaluable thinking skills across the curriculum. As one Year 8 pupil, Alfie, a former philosophy student of mine, explains: "For every subject you need a bit of philosophy."

UNESCO is less pithy, but says: "By developing the intellectual tools to analyse and understand key concepts such as justice, dignity and freedom, by building capacities for independent thought and judgement, by enhancing the critical skills to understand and question the world and its challenges, and by fostering reflection on values and principles, philosophy is a 'school of freedom'."

Since the publication of the study on the state of the art of philosophy teaching throughout the world entitled Philosophy, a School of Freedom, UNESCO has given international impetus in encouraging philosophy teaching at all levels of education as a significant contribution to quality learning.

So while university philosophy departments across the country are closing, why should we teach philosophy in our schools? Why cram another subject into an already overcrowded curriculum?

The fact is that philosophy isn't just another subject. Philosophy is not a well-meaning add-on to normal lessons that interferes with the national curriculum element of children's learning. Philosophy deals with the very fundamental building blocks of all knowledge, namely reasoning and concepts. Children learn a great deal of facts and procedures, but whether they properly understand these facts and procedures is contentious. Children need opportunities to apply these new concepts so that they begin to understand how they are used.

Testing is one very artificial way of doing this, but philosophy is a natural context for trying out new ideas and lines of reasoning and argument playfully, but also very seriously. And philosophy has the unique ability to be applied to almost any subject, from maths to RE, and enables the children to gain the understanding of these subjects that simply learning the procedures and facts fails to do. What use is reading, writing and arithmetic if one does not know how to apply it properly? Socrates said "True opinions are a fine thing but they do no good if they are not tethered with understanding and good reasoning."

Over the last five years, research (including Ofsted, the Rose Review, the Cambridge Primary Review and a report by the Confederation of British Industry) into children and education has consistently highlighted the problem of communication difficulties and the knock-on effects this has on behaviour, learning and emotional relationships. Reports indicate that this is due to emphasis being placed on teaching to the test rather than deepening understanding.

We are a charity that provides peripatetic philosophy teachers to work in schools across the UK. We run hour-long pupil-led philosophical enquiries into philosophical topics that are aligned to the national curriculum or school topics. We work closely with classroom teachers to develop a wide range of thinking habits that will enable all children to engage in life-long learning. Research and case studies into our work have shown improvements in literacy and critical thinking skills, as well as communication, confidence and collaborative learning.

The teachers we work with also use the philosophy sessions to aid their national curriculum work and assessment. They value the opportunity to see their classes in a different learning environment.

I'd like to finish with the words of Alfie again. Alfie recently wrote, in a letter to the Secretary of State Michael Gove, "Philosophy is like the foundation of a house: to be good at English or maths or science you have to have the foundation of being able to think. To be honest, for every subject you need a bit of philosophy. Philosophy helps people think and understand how everyone else thinks; it's like exercising your brain."

http://www.atl.org.uk/publications-and-resources/report/20…

Compulsory philosophy lessons would teach young rioters a thing or two

By Allan Massie

In 2008 the Brazilian parliament passed a law requiring philosophy to be taught in every high school. So nine million teenagers now study philosophy for at least two hours a week. Some of what is offered is apparently an introductory course on the history of philosophy beginning with Plato. Other lessons deal with philosophical concepts such as the nature of justice, or ethical ones: why do we think certain things right and others wrong? Many Brazilians are, for instance, the descendants of either slaves or slave-owners – many presumably descendants of both. So they may be asked to consider why the institution of slavery found defenders, even among people one might consider to have been virtuous, and why it is now condemned.

This raises the question: if what was once thought acceptable now finds no defenders, does the understanding of what is good respond to changes in economic and social structures? Are some things always right and others always wrong? If so, why was it once thought right to burn witches and heretics?

Perhaps we have something to learn from the Brazilians. Perhaps the teaching of philosophy should be mandatory in our schools too. After last summer's riots there was much talk, some of it wild, some nasty, about "feral youths" and, more restrainedly, about our "desocialised young people". David Cameron, while in Opposition, spoke about our "broken society", and though he was referring principally to problems arising from family breakdown and the consequences of welfare-supported worklessness, it's evident that some at least of our social discontents may be attributed to what one might call philosophical blindness.

Some may think it absurd to ask young people who may struggle with arithmetic or reading to engage in philosophical discussion. Yet it may be even more absurd to think them incapable of being interested in the sort of questions that moral philosophy poses. Children from an early age have a strong sense of fairness, or at least of unfairness. There can’t be anyone reading this who didn’t as a child sometimes complain “it’s not fair”. Asking teenagers to engage in discussion about right and wrong, fairness and unfairness, the nature of justice, why we obey the law and in what circumstances – if any – it might be right to disobey a particular law, is to offer them something which naturally appeals to even the most ignorant.

“Why are the laws levelled against us?”, asks Macheath the highwayman in The Beggar’s Opera. “Are we more dishonest than the rest of mankind?” Good question, because it is a dangerous one.

Philosophy is more about asking questions than offering answers. So it gets one to think about what one has accepted unthinkingly. This is why it may have a more immediate appeal to young people who are discovering who and what they are, and what the social world is, than to adults who are set in their opinions.

Arguing questions of right and wrong is a way of learning to distinguish between the two. Asking why we should obey the law invites examination of a world without law. The next step is to examine the responsibility of the individual when the moral law is in conflict with the laws of a criminal state such as Nazi Germany.

Why do we believe what we do, and is our belief justified? All such questions can engage the young, and lead them to think about their own nature and that of the world they are growing up in. So let us copy the Brazilians and make the teaching of philosophy for a few hours a week compulsory in our schools. This might go some way to repairing what is broken in our society, and help us to rear well informed and responsible citizens. And in the meantime the kids might have fun tossing these concepts around and arguing them out.

• introduksjon til noen av de viktigste og mest interessante spørsmålene i filosofien

• intervjuer med filosofihistoriens store tenkere

• animerte farveillustrasjoner

• opplesninger for barn som liker å lytte

• fakta om de store tenkerne

• interaktive kart og tidslinjer

• aktiviteter som er lette å komme igang med

• opplegg for diskusjoner, dagbokskriving og tegning

Sack the Headteacher (for hiring me)

I had a great day with the staff of Burlington Junior School in Bridlington at the beginning of September. The Headteacher, Cheryle Adams had invited me to lead some PD on inquiry-led learning, and the staff were really up for it. I left the school thinking what a great place to work.

Pity then that this wonderful, enthusiastic and dedictaed group of staff have fallen foul of the Daily Mail and their lynch mob-like readers! Apparently one of the parents had complained to the pernicious paper because he didn't like the 'thumbs up' idea I had recommended as one of the strategies for ensuring more children participate in class discussions.

So, for the first time in my life, I had a look at the Daily Mail's website and was gobsmacked by the comments the article had attracted: 214 to date, many of which call for the Head's head! Here's a sample of the comments, with the number of votes each one has received from other like-minded readers in brackets:

• More nonsense from the "lunatic" liberal teaching fraternity. I'm surprised they didn't think of instructing the kids to give the middle finger as a sign of non conformity (575 votes)

• if a child shoots up their hand they are saying 'choose me! I want to be the one to answer!" obviously far to competitive an attitude for trendy teachers. They think they are experts but really they are fools. Children love to compete. (358 votes)

• Oh, for goodness sake!! The people who came up with this ludicrous idea shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a classroom - ye gods!! (61)

• School children throughout the world have 'put their hands up' for centuries. But lo and behold some (British - obviously) dumb cow has found an improvement to what has gone before! (48)

• Yet more rubbish,lets get back to tradional methods and everyone sitting behind a desk, calling teacher "sir or madam." Teachers made to dress correctly men wearing a shirt and tie ladies in a skirt or trousers. No jeans trainers etc.. Discipline and respect at the top of the agenda that way the kids know where they stand and what will and will not be accepted. Then start on the three "R's" It worked in the past. (41)

• "This is the result of women going to university. There heads fill up with cotton wool ideas. They should spend more time at home doing the house work and cooking for the bread winners. This would ensure far fewer silly ideas, force down the extortionate price of houses, and provide more employment opportunities for the male population. (40)

• Why aren't they teaching Britishness instead of this EU nonsense? (24)

To read more of these crazy comments, click here (and weep!)

PS. As for the sensible responses, they have all received negative votes!! For example:

• If someone were ever to suggest that doctors should return to the practices of fifty years ago, or that soldiers should be trained to fight as their predecessors fought in Korea, the idea would be howled at. Yet teachers are expected to hold rigidly onto the methods and ideals of a system that ceased to exist half a century ago. To all those who harp on about 'traditional ways of teaching' and that nonsense, you can't have it both ways - either you keep your cancer drugs, or we go back to the blackboards (minus 88 votes)

• I'd strongly suggest you stop reading this sorry excuse of a newspaper. Anyone who takes it seriously and actually believes the endless disinformative, misinformative bile it produces is not fit to be a teacher anyway (minus 25 votes)

• Nice try Andy, but I'm afraid you're wasting your time. D M readers don't like facts which challenge their own opinions. That's why they buy the D M, it's an easy read which doesn't require them to think because it simply reinforces their own prejudices (minus 25 votes)

Sack the Headteacher (for hiring me)

Teach philosophy in our schools

We share the view that introducing philosophy lessons in the classroom from a very early age would have immense benefits in terms of boosting British schoolchildren's reasoning and conceptual skills, better equipping them for the complexities of life in the 21st century, where ubiquitous technology and rapid social change are the order of the day. There is a growing body of evidence that philosophy can be of huge importance in opening up young minds. Reasoning skills and habits improve learning in other subjects on the curriculum and do not require purchasing expensive equipment and classroom resources.

The long-term imperative must be to recruit more specialist philosophy teachers and to increase the number of philosophy graduates. However, in the short to medium term we also call for the introduction of a new specialist teacher training diploma in philosophy. It is our opinion that this will make sure children from all backgrounds get the advantages philosophy at a young age can bring in terms of intellectual and social development.

• Angie Hobbs Senior fellow in the public understanding of philosophy, University of Warwick

• Ariane Sherine Comedy writer and journalist

• Susan Greenfield Scientist, writer, broadcaster

• Bettany Hughes Historian, broadcaster

• Diana Janney Philosopher, author

• Dr Anthony Seldon Political historian and educationalist, master, Wellington College

• Dr Catherine C McCall Philosopher and originator of 'Socrates for 6-year-olds'

• Dr Julian Baggini Philosopher, broadcaster

• Dr Miranda Fricker Senior lecturer in philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London

• Dr Rosanna Keefe University of Sheffield

• Dr Scott Sturgeon University of Oxford

• Dr Simon Glendinning Philosopher, LSE

• Mark Vernon Philosopher, journalist

• Michael Hand Institute of Education, editor of Philosophy in Schools

• Peter Cave Author, lecturer, chair, Humanist Philosophers

• Peter Worley Co-founder of The Philosophy Shop

• Professor AC Grayling

• Professor Adrian Moore University of Oxford

• Professor Alison Gopnik Psychologist, UC Berkeley; author, The Philosophical Baby

• Professor Barry C Smith Director, Institute of Philosophy

• Professor Bill Brewer University of Warwick

• Professor Bob Brecher University of Brighton

• Professor Bob Hale University of Sheffield

• Professor Christopher Norris School of English communication and philosophy, Cardiff University

• Professor Daniel Douglas Hutto Professor of philosophical psychology, University of Hertfordshire

• Professor Duncan Pritchard University of Edinburgh

• Professor Emma Borg Professor of philosophy, University of Reading

• Professor Eric Matthews Emeritus professor of philosophy, University of Aberdeen

• Professor Helen Beebee School of philosophy, theology and religion, University of Birmingham

• Professor James Ladyman University of Bristol

• Professor Jennifer Saul University of Sheffield

• Professor John Dupre Director of Egenis, University of Exeter

• Professor John Skorupski Professor of moral philosophy, University of St Andrews

• Professor Jonathan Glover Professor of ethics, King's College, London, director of the Centre for Medical Law and Ethics

• Professor Julian Savulescu Uehiro chair in practical ethics, University of Oxford

• Professor Laurie Taylor Sociologist, broadcaster

• Professor Naomi Eilan University of Warwick

• Professor Nicholas Davey University of Dundee

• Professor Paul Noordhof University of York

• Professor Peter Hallward Professor of modern European philosophy, Kingston University

• Professor Peter Simons Chair of moral philosophy, Trinity College Dublin

• Professor Raymond Tallis Philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic

• Professor Robert Eaglestone Professor of contemporary literature and thought, Royal Holloway, University of London

• Professor Robert Hopkins University of Sheffield

• Professor Robin Attfield School of English communication and philosophy, Cardiff University

• Roger Sutcliffe Co-founder of SAPERE

• Professor Simon Blackburn Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

• Professor Stephen Read Department of logic and metaphysics, University of St Andrews

• Rick Lewis Editor, Philosophy Now

• Robert Rowland Smith Writer on philosophy, psychoanalysis and literature

• Robin Ince Comedian, humanist

• Terry Jones Comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian

• Tom Rosenthal Actor, comedian

I am deeply saddened to announce that Dr. Matthew Lipman, creator of the Philosophy for Children movement and Professor Emeritus of Montclair State University, passed away on December 26, 2010 at his residence in the Green Hill Retirement Community in West Orange, New Jersey. Lipman was born August 24, 1923 in Vineland, New Jersey. He served in the U.S. Infantry from 1943‑1946 in France and Germany, and was awarded two bronze stars during the Second World War. His experiences helping to liberate concentration camps in Germany is recounted in his autobiography, A Life Teaching Thinking.

Lipman studied at Stanford, Columbia, the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Austria, earning his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Columbia in 1954. His dissertation, later published as What Happens in Art (1967) drew on the work of John Dewey, with whom Lipman conversed, and who complimented the dissertation. Lipman became a Professor of Philosophy at Columbia and chaired the Department of General Education at Columbia in the 1950’s and 1960’s, during which time he also taught at Sarah Lawrence College and the City College of New York.

Lipman’s experiences teaching philosophy to college students and adult education students, and witnessing the political upheaval that took place on university campuses around the country in the 1960s, convinced him that learning to think critically, to inquire about philosophical questions and to form reasonable judgments should begin much earlier. In 1969, with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, he began writing his first philosophical novel for children, Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery, which was piloted in public schools in Montclair, New Jersey. In 1972 Lipman left Columbia for Montclair State College to further develop his ideas of what came to be known as “Philosophy for Children.” In 1974 he established the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) with co-founder Ann Margaret Sharp, and for the next three decades, Lipman became a national and a world leader in the fields of critical thinking, pre-college philosophy and educational reform.

Philosophy for Children became nation-wide movement, with workshops organized in every state through the National Diffusion Network of the Department of Education. The movement also spread around the world, with local and national organizations in over forty countries, and regional associations in Europe, Latin America and Australasia. Lipman’s curriculum has been translated into dozens of languages, and in 1985 the International Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children was founded in Copenhagen.

Lipman’s academic career involved teaching courses in philosophy and education, writing the world’s first systematic pre-college philosophy curriculum, creating masters and doctoral programs in Philosophy for Children, conducting empirical research on children’s thinking and philosophical inquiry, founding the journal Thinking, conducting conferences and professional development workshops, acquiring research grants, and writing scores of books and journal articles. He retired from Montclair State in 2001 but remained an active scholar, publishing numerous articles and interviews, and writing his autobiography, which was published in 2008.

In 1952 Lipman married Wynona Moore (1932-1999), the first African-American woman to be elected to the New Jersey Senate (1971) and the Senate’s longest-serving member at the time of her death in 1999. The Lipmans had two children, Will, who died in 1984, and Karen, who lives in Georgia. In 1974, Dr. Lipman married Theresa Smith, who passed away in 2006.

Idag er maktbruk overfor barn helt «ut». Det betyr ikke at voksne har sluttet å utøve makt, men at makten har antatt andre former. Idag er voksne opptatt av at barn skal være mest mulig likestilte, og vil derfor gjerne tildele barn både makt, ansvar og myndighet. De voksne vil ikke bare selv gi fra seg makt, men overføre makt til barnet, de vil «bemektige» barnet (jf. det allestedsnærværende kravet om «empowerment»).
Dette høres prisverdig ut. Men dels er dette en bemektigelse barn ikke selv har bedt om, dels er den mange ganger umulig å gjennomføre uten samtidig å ignorere, tildekke eller underkommunisere reelle ulikheter og motsetninger mellom voksne og barn: tilegnet kunnskap, livserfaring, språkevne, modenhet og dømmekraft, praktiske ferdigheter, impulskontroll, motorikk osv. Man må presse gjennom en forståelse av at disse forskjellene ikke er relevante, overse at dette er evner og egenskaper som det krever tid og anstrengelse å utvikle. Derfor er dette en manipulerende makt. Men den fremstår som myk og omsorgsfull fordi formålet synes så edelt: ivaretagelse av mangfoldet og bemektigelse av de svake.

• the role of philosophy in teaching controversial issues

• the epistemological basis of critical thinking

• the practice of conceptual analysis

• philosophical thinking in moral and religious education

• the idea of philosophical intelligence

• philosophical themes in childrenís literature

• philosophy and the adolescentís search for meaning

• the connection between philosophy and wisdom 

Barne- og ungdomsfilosofene

Barne- og ungdomsfilosofene (BUF) har bakgrunn som magistere i filosofi, lærere på ex. phil. og ti år som selvstendig næringsdrivende/kursholdere.

Filosofiske samtaler med barn

BUF tilbyr filosofiske samtaler for barn og ungdom, samt kurs om filosofiske samtaler for de voksne.

Samtalen med barna/ungdommene varer fra 1 til 2 timer, og tar utgangspunkt i deltagernes egne spørsmål.

På kurset for de voksne lærer man hva en filosofisk samtale er, og hvordan den kan gjennomføres i en gruppe med barn.

Kurset kan spisses mot barnehage, skole, museum, foreldre osv.

Varighet: Fra 1 til 6 timer. Pris etter avtale.

Medvirkende: Ariane Schjelderup og Øyvind Olsholt

Dette er en vakker billedbok om filosofiske motsetninger som enhet og mangfold, endelig og uendelig, tid og evighet, kropp og sjel m.fl. Først presenteres hvert begrep med noen få setninger, så følger et spørsmål, som besvares med noen filosofiske betraktninger. Boken er vakker på grunn av, eller på tross av, enkelheten og det skjematiske oppsettet. Både tekst og bilder utstråler en kjølig distanse, som kaller på leseren og får ham til å våkne opp og spørre: Øh, er det meg du snakker til? Ville ikke livet vært lettere uten motsetninger? Svaret lyder: Jo, men det er ikke et alternativ for tenkende mennesker, for tenkning er ikke mulig uten motsetninger.

• enhet og mangfold

• endelig og uendelig

• vesen og utseende

• frihet og nødvendighet

• fornuft og lyst

• natur og kultur

• tid og evighet

• jeg og de andre

• kropp og sjel

• aktiv og passiv

• objektiv og subjektiv

• årsak og virkning