Philosophy for Children (P4C)

This article illustrates some features of Matthew Lipman’s epistemology which informs his Philosophy for Children/for Community. This draws from diverse aspects of contemporary com-plexity models. By virtue of its learning theory, its conception of research community as well as its praise of critical thinking, Philosophy for Children/for Community turns out to be an innovative philosophical practice which can play a crucial role in the educational reform and beyond.

This study investigates the development of positive school culture and climate at a midsized public elementary school in urban Oahu, Hawai'i, over fifteen years. Researchers ask: what key people, initiatives, and programs positively impacted the school culture and climate at Waikiki Elementary School? Qualitative methods are applied to design and carry out a portrait study, which included interviewing 22 members of the school community. Analysis of the data reveals how one particular school initiativephilosophy for children Hawai'i (p4cHI)-had a positive impact. p4cHI helped create a school culture and climate characterised by intellectual safety, learner-centred inquiry, integration of experience, and a reputation to be proud of. While no one school community is the same, this study sheds light on the factors that might help cultivate and nurture a more positive elementary school culture and climate in other contexts.

Pernambuco, presents his notion of childhood. As the text will show, Freire's notion goes beyond the traditional idea of childhood as a chronological stage to establish an idea of childhood as a vital force even and, above all, in the case of revolution.

A philosophy with children community of inquiry encourage children to develop a philosophical sensitivity that entails awareness of abstract questions related to human existence. When it operates, it can allow insight into significant philosophical aspects of various situations and their analysis. This article seeks to contribute to the discussion of philosophical sensitivity by adducing an additional dimension—namely, the development of a socio-philosophical sensitivity by means of a philosophical community of inquiry focused on texts linked to these themes and an analysis of them with the help of narratival tools that explain the children’s philosophical moves. The ability to ask questions regarding complex social issues in the field of economics and to ask oneself personal questions about oneself is thus also exemplified in the deconstruction of the “great narratives” and their transformation into more accessible, human dimensions.
The first section of the article presents the philosophic framework within which discussions of this type are conducted with children and the historical background of this field as a method employed across the globe. The second section examines selected transcripts from philosophic encounters in which children discuss social and economic themes. The third section engages in a narrative analysis of philosophical discourse that seeks to broaden the discussion of the link between philosophy with children and the way in which children themselves construct philosophical sensitivities that can develop into socio-philosophic sensitivities.
In the case of discussions relating to the issue of poverty, the children raised basic questions relating to the core of philosophy. Unsurprisingly, they did not make exclusive use of examples. Their ability to address these issues allowed a discussion that also led them to develop caring thinking, which is based on friendship thinking. This is based on a social sensitivity founded on both empathy and the raising of logical arguments.

Dossier - Chantier PHILOCITÉ : 17èmes Rencontres sur les Nouvelles Pratiques Philosophiques

Depuis la fin des années 1990 et la mise en place des premiers ateliers de Matthew Lipman, les initiatives visant à faire de la « philosophie avec des enfants », aussi bien au sein qu’en dehors des murs de l’école, se sont multipliées. Si de nombreux outils didactiques ont été élaborés afin de susciter des réflexions philosophiques chez les enfants de différents niveaux et de différents milieux, la manière d’aborder les questions propres à la philosophie des sciences avec les plus jeunes a néanmoins fait l’objet de peu d’études. Pourtant, les enfants sont confrontés à ces questions dès le plus jeune âge puisque c’est, pour une part non négligeable, dans leur rapport au savoir que leur rapport au monde se constitue. Dans le même temps, de nombreux ateliers scientifiques ont été mis en place, par des associations telles que Les Petits Débrouillards, au coeur des quartiers populaires. Les enfants y sont invités à pratiquer les sciences autrement, de manière ludique, en expérimentant, pour appréhender les explications et les concepts scientifiques par eux-mêmes.

Dans cet article, je propose de montrer l'intérêt qu'il y peut y avoir à prendre appui sur les méthodes et les outils pédagogiques et didactiques utilisés au sein de ces ateliers afin de susciter, chez les enfants – et en particulier chez les enfants issus de milieux défavorisés, en difficulté ou éloignés de l’école – une réflexion philosophique sur les sciences. Pour cela, je commence par rappeler le type de questions que pose la philosophie des sciences avant de dresser un rapide panorama des intérêts qu’il peut y avoir à susciter ce genre de questionnement chez les enfants. Je présente ensuite un ensemble de supports inducteurs qui apparaissent particulièrement adaptés à cette fin, en m’appuyant sur ma propre pratique en tant qu’animatrice scientifique, au sein de deux quartiers rennais.

El propósito de este estudio es establecer la importancia de la propuesta educativa que el filósofo estadunidense Matthew Lipman realiza a fin de enseñar a niños y jóvenes la capacidad de desarrollar un pensamiento filosófico que les permita percibir y comprender la información y la realidad que les rodea, de una forma crítica, creativa y cuidadosa, transformándolos en personas creadoras de un futuro que se construya razonable y colaborativamente, asumiendo los desafíos que la tecnología está presentando en el desarrollo de los individuos y las sociedades.

The answer to the question of child’s philosophizing requires the prior decisions on fundamental issues in areas such as metaphilosophy, epistemology, psychology and pedagogy. The position in the dispute over a child's philosophy is usually the consequence of adopting a certain attitude towards issues related to understanding the nature of philosophy, what childhood is, how to develop cognitive competences, and what is and what should be the education. Supporters of child’s philosophizing have different definition of the philosophy, they also have another vision of child’s cognitive development than philosophers who are skeptical of philosophy practiced by children.
The paper I will attempt to order the arguments of supporters and skeptics of child’s philosophizing, stressing the importance of various positions on issues which are substantial for the problem of child's philosophizing. A special role in this dispute plays criticism of piagetian theory of development of cognitive competences. According to critics of Piaget he is focused on constructing a model of development and he does not notice the phenomenon of child's philosophizing. Children are wrong at any stage of development. But their mental constructions are essentially brilliant philosophical problematize of the world.

Jaspers' vision of an ideal university stipulates an institution devoted to the search for truth by virtue of communication. I argue that such an institution requires students who are willing and able to collectively pursue open and free inquiry as well as academics who uphold this value. Such a desideratum as well as an overall capacity for participation in the university's mandate needs to be cultivated in students at an early age. While a desire for truth and open-ended inquiry requires that economic and instrumental considerations for education do not exhaust the students' reasons for seeking a university education, an interest in truth and learning for its own sake is best cultivated when one aims to foster children's natural curiosity about big questions, such as, for example, the beginning of the universe, personal identity, the meaning of life, or the nature of friendship. Furthermore, the capacity for participation in a community of learning and research requires that the virtues of critical thinking, intellectual empathy, and intellectual integrity are familiar to students—that their interaction with teachers and academic personnel is not based on their status as authority figures and disciplinarians, thereby following stereotypes of early schooling, but rather that they are also seen as being fellow inquirers and thinkers. These two Jaspersian goals of university education—(1) the open inquiry for truth and (2) communication as the method for such inquiry—are best supported if philosophical thinking is introduced to students at an early age.

هدف اصلی این مقاله، بررسی تطبیقی دیدگاه شهید مطهری با دیدگاه لیپمن درباره اهداف تعلیم و تربیت اسلامی در نظریه تعلیم و تربیت تأملی و برنامه «فلسفه برای کودکان» است. با توجه به این هدف، با مطالعه کتابخانه‌ای، نخست دیدگاه‌های هر دو اندیشمند درباره موضوع پژوهش، استخراج شد و سپس میان دیدگاه‌های آن‌ها براساس روش توصیفی استنتاجی، مطالعه تطبیقی انجام شد.
مطهری و لیپمن بر تأمل، تفکر، اندیشه‌ورزی و تربیت عقلانی، به عنوان اهداف تعلیم و تربیت تأکید دارند؛ ولی این اهداف را غایی نمی‌شمارند؛ بلکه اهداف واسطی برای رسیدن به هدفی عالی‌تر در نظر می‌گیرند. مطهری بر آن است که هدف غایی تعلیم و تربیت، رسیدن به درجه بندگی خداوند و کسب مدارج معنوی است که در ذیل نظام ارزشی اسلام مطرح می‌شود؛ در حالی که هدف غایی «فلسفه برای کودکان» آموزش کودکان و نوجوانان به منظور دست‌یابی به زندگی بهتر، با کیفیت‌تر، با تمدن و شهروند دموکرات شدن است.
نتایج نشان می‌دهد با وجود برخی اشتراکات تعلیم و تربیتی میان مطهری و لیپمن، از آنجا که این دو از نظام‌های ارزشی و انسان‌شناختیِ متفاوت متأثر هستند، دیدگاه‌های آن‌ها درباره هدف غایی تعلیم و تربیت با یکدیگر تفاوت دارد.

(MEDEM) geçen iki dönemde olduğu gibi bu dönem de Çocuklar İçin Felsefe Atölyesi çalışmalarına devam ediyor. Yürütülecek programla ilgili açıklama yapan atölye eğitmeni BEÜ Felsefe Bölümü'nden Arş. Gör. Mustafa Çakıroğlu şunları söyledi: " Felsefe sadece kitabî ve soyut şeyleri konu edinmez; felsefe daha temelde insanı ve onun problemlerini ele almak için vardır. Felsefî bir tavır en çok analitik ve kritik özelliklere sahiptir.

In the last thirty years, a lively and wide ranging debate has been going on among scholars from various disciplines about the relationship between philosophy and care. Not only philosophers, but also sociologists and psychologists have been dealing with this issue. To some of the latter  it looked as if a kind of philosophy, with its claim to be able to care, was actually trespassing on its own dominium. When you read a title such as “Plato, not Prozac”  it’s unavoidable  to make a comparison, even in polemical terms, between philosophical care and psychotherapy.

En el presente relato de experiencia abordaremos la cuestión de cómo trabajar la planificación de un encuentro filosófico. Para eso, nos basaremos en la experiencia de capacitación que se inició en la Provincia de Santa Fe a partir del año 2011, desde el Ministerio de Educación provincial para escuelas de gestión pública. La línea de capacitación tomó el nombre de “Ronda de Palabras” y apunta a formar a docentes de nivel primario en el campo de la Filosofía con Niños.
Si bien hace varios años que se insiste desde muy diversas instituciones en la preferencia de adoptar pedagogías constructivistas, la docencia es una profesión con sus propias cargas e inercias históricas. Muchas veces se apuesta a no planificar clases de estilo directivista, estructuradas rígidamente y controladas al detalle por el docente, pero no siempre se aportan alternativas concretas para sostener este cambio pedagógico. Desde los inicios de la capacitación fue, y sigue siendo, un constante desafío el poder establecer otros modos de llevar adelante las clases y el rol docente mismo. En el proceso de búsqueda y reflexión sobre nuestra experiencia como capacitadores, la planificación emergió como una herramienta pedagógica que permitía a los capacitando visualizar de un modo más gráfico y menos abstracto qué quiere decir adoptar un rol docente más abierto y reflexivo.

The paper is about how P4C was practiced in a primary school in Tehran-Iran for 4 months and what was the results from children's points of view.  It was for the first time that P4C was officially introduced an international conference in Iran.
Sunday Afternoon

Inauguration Ceremony
The Second World Congress on Mulla Sadra and Transcendent Philosophy
Friday, May 21, 2004
May 23,2004 / Khordad 3,1383

Hall # 4
Board of Directors: Ms. Farzaneh Shahrtash, Dr. Oscar Brenifier, Dr. Amirhossein Asqari, Dr. Ali Shariatmadari, Dr. Reza Mohammad Zadeh, Dr. Ahad Faramarz Qaramaleki.
معرفی برنامه‌ی درسی
"فلســـفه برای کودکان"

واحد پژوهش فلسفه برای كودكان
فرزانه شهرتاش، اعظم قاسمی، نسرین ابراهیمی لویه،
خدیجه هزارپیشه، افخم السادات حسینی، طاهره دهقانی

متن قرائت شده در كمسیون فلسفه برای كودكان
همایش جهانی حكمت ملاصدرا

یکی از دغدغه‌های بنیاد حکمت اسلامی صدرا از بدو تأسیس این بود که راهی پیدا کند تا اذهان مردم به ویژه نسل جوان را از آسیب‌های ناشی از ضعف تفکر، زودباوری, پیروی از تبلیغات یا ضعف تحلیل و قضاوت در مورد آراء و نظرات دیگران حفظ نماید.
بنیاد کلید حل این مسئله را در بسط و نشر تفکر فلسفی و ورود فلسفه به زندگی روزمرّه و به عبارتی دیگر در همگانی کردن فلسفه می‌داند. چرا که اعتقاد دارد این فلسفه است که می‌تواند تفکر سالم در زندگی فردی و اجتماعی را برای همة انسان‌ها به ارمغان آورد و آن‌ها را در کسب توانایی برخورد صحیح و منطقی با مشکلات و حل مسائل به شیوه‌ی مناسب، یاری دهد.
چند سال پیش بنیاد با موضوع «فلسفه برای کودکان» به عنوان یک برنامه درسی آشنا شد و بدین‌ترتیب، دو افق تازه در پیش روی بنیاد گشوده گردید.

هدف از انتشار این آزمون این بوده  که آموزش «فلسفه برای کودکان» در نظر مخاطبان و به ویژه معلمان، از یک کلاس داستان خوانی با فعالیت جانبی، به یک برنامه ی درسی با اهداف معین (محتوا، مهارت ها و نگرش ها)، روش تدریس و روش ارزشیابی تغییر یابد.  مهارت هایی که آزمون «مهارت های استدلالی نیوجرسی» اندازه گیری می کند همان مهارت هایی است که که پس از یک دوره آموزش فلسفه برای کودکان در دانش آموزان تقویت می شود البته به شرطی که اصول برنامه رعایت شوند. این مهارت ها عبارت اند از: یکسان سازی عبارات، شامل شدن/ شامل نشدن، تشخیص سؤالات نامناسب، پرهیز از زود نتیجه گیری کردن، تفکر تمثیلی، تمیز پیش فرض های مستتر، استخراج راه های دیگر، استدلال استقرایی، استدلال به کمک روابط، تمیز ابهامات چندمعنایی، شناسایی دلایل خوب، تشخیص روابط متقارن، استدلال قیاسی (قطعی)، تمایز تفاوت ها برحسب نوع و درجه، تشخیص روابط تراگذاری/ترایایی، تشخیص منبع مشکوک، استدلال با ماتریس چهار حالتی، عبارات متناقض، استدلال کل- جزء و جزء- کل، استدلال قیاسی (شرطی)، پی بردن به روابط علّی. امید است با معرفی و در اختیار داشتن این ابزار معرفی و اجرای آزمایشی آن در مدارس با موفقیت جدی تری روبرو شود.

Dieser Artikel gibt einen historisch-systematischen Überblick über das Philosophieren mit Kindern. Der Verfasser will mit diesem Beitrag vor allem die deutsche Forschung auf diesem Gebiet betonen, da auch das Philosophieren mit Kindern in Europa seinen wichtigsten Impuls von Ekkehard Martens erhielt. Nebst den unterschiedlichen Forschungen ist vor allem interessant, wie die Kritik an Piaget und Kohlberg diesem Philosophieren den Weg ebnet, wie also der Fokus weg vom Defizit auf die Kompetenz der Kinder gelegt wird. Dem Zusammenhang zum theologischen Gespräch hat auch die Forschungsgruppe in Karlsruhe ihr Augenmerk gewidmet. Der Beitrag berücksichtigt Teile der Methodik sowie das Philosophieren in der Schule und berücksichtigt die neueste Literatur auf diesem Gebiet.
• Philosophieren mit Kindern. Ein historisch-systematischer Überblick in: Farhang. Quarterly Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies. Issue Topic: Philosophy for Children. Vol. 22, No. 69, Spring 2009, S. 213-229
• فلسفه¬ورزي با كودكان. درآمدي نظام¬مند و تاريخي در: فرهنگ. ويژه¬ي فلسفه براي كودكان و نوجوانان. فصلنامهفرهنگ. سال بيست و دوم، شماره اول، پياپي 69، بهار 1388، صص 229- 213 (به زبان آلماني).

Disagreements are a fact of life. Productive disagreements are a rarity. We find ourselves living in a divided world in which it’s increasingly difficult to have productive arguments.

In 20 thought-provoking discussions, philosophers Adam Ferner and Darren Chetty examine some of today’s most pressing debates in politics, society and education. Opening up conversations about conversation, they offer helpful ways to navigate personal and political conflicts.

Explore the myriad ways we engage with others.
Discover actionable means to encourage positive, helpful debate.
Learn why productive disagreement is essential.
Address the challenging topics that need conversation.

In this paper, I argue that philosophy presents a valuable tool for learners and teachers of second/foreign languages. By building on Schmidtʼs (1990) noticing hypothesis of language learning, and the value of philosophy for children argued for by Lipman (2011), I demonstrate how second language learners can benefit from philosophy used as a provocative stimulus in meaning-based communicative tasks, leading to heightened awareness of and sensitivity to language constructions. These result in better learning due to the salience of the philosophical content as part of a focus on form approach to second language teaching.

این مقاله به ریشه‌یابی مشکلات درک‌مطلب کودکان ایرانی در دوره‌ی ابتدایی می‌‌‌پردازد و در پی راه حلی برای آن است. کودکان ایرانی در 16 سال گذشته به طور پیاپی در آزمون‌های بین‌المللی پرلز نشان داده‌اند در سوادخواندن بخصوص بخش درک‌مطلب و استنباط متن خوانده شده از توانمندی‌های لازم و کافی بهره‌مند نیستند. این امر نه تنها در مناطق دوزبانه بلکه به مناطقی که زبان مادری کودکان فارسی است نیز تسری پیدا کرده است. منطقی است اگر نتیجه‌گیری کنیم جایی در نظام آموزش زبان فارسی خلائی وجود داشته باشد. این بدین معنا نیست که قبلا این خلاء وجود نداشته و جدیدا به وجود آمده است بلکه حاکی از آن است که آزمون‌های جدید قابلیت آشکارسازی این خلاء را پیدا کرده‌اند ولی روش‌های تدریس هم‌چنان به‌طور سنتی بر روان‌خوانی و دستورزبان و  املا  و مانند آن تأکید دارند. همین اتفاق در سال‌های 1970 میلادی در آزمون‌های کشورهای دیگر منجر به ورود مهارت‌های تفکر نقاد و خلاق و مهارت های استدلال در رویکردهای تدریس زبان و به‌کارگیری روش‌های گفتگو، داستان‌خوانی و داستان‌نویسی و به طور کلی تلفیق این مهارت ها با درس هنرهای زبانی یا سوادخواندن شد. براساس پیشنهاد این مقاله، آموزش و تقویت مهارت‌ها و نگرش‌های تفکر نقاد و خلاق و مهارت‌های استدلالی به کمک روش‌های گفتگو، داستان خوانی و داستان‌نویسی با بهره‌گیری از الگوی برنامه‌ی درسی "فلسفه برای کودکان" یعنی از طریق سوادخواندن (گوش کردن، صحبت کردن، خواندن و نوشتن) امکان‌پذیر می‌گردد و سپس به سایر دروس انتقال می‌یابد.

Do our current standard academic practices efficiently address the changing needs of modern education? Are our tacit assumptions on teaching aligned with the contemporary revaluation of education theories, understanding of students' competency, role of teachers and pedagogical methods? The well-meaning stalwarts of the " old system " might disagree to apply drastic changes in their usual teaching practices. Yet, one has to recognize that the reluctance to correct dearly-held teaching dispositions, either for convenience or out of sheer rigidity, is itself an indication of an erroneous assumption of the authority of educators. This paper argues that transmission-based pedagogical practices reinforce stultification among students. Following Lipman's pedagogical model, it further argues that an inquiry-based reflective paradigm, which is practiced within a community of inquiry, can supplant the " standard " but less effective academic practices that still find their way inside the Philippine classrooms.

There are many different theories and principles upon which a researcher can use to model his/her research design – the one I want to talk about is Dewey’s theory of enquiry and why I adopted his method to inform and develop a conceptual framework for my own research project which is focussed on teacher and practitioner perceptions of Philosophy for Children (P4C) practices in Irish Educate Together primary schools.

This conference presentation, held at the 18th ICPIC conference in June 2017 in Madrid, Spain, is about the joint research project by my colleague Caroline Ferguson and myself, about ITEps student teachers' perspectives on philosophy for children, in relation to educating global citizens in primary schools. The project was followed up by further qualitative research and is still in development. We are in the course of publishing our work under ICPIC auspices. Further information will follow here later on.

Here is my updated list of Intellectual Virtues that I think embody the sort of thing we might ideally want to measure and evaluate in children doing philosophy. Ambitious, I know! However, I invite people to devise an assessment tool using this list (if not exhaustively). I have also included some of my reflections on this list at the end, identifying four candidate key 'umbrella virtues':

1) Intellectual willingness
2) Intellectual judiciousness
3) Intellectual sensitivity
4) Intellectual responsibility

Also of note is the placement of 'insight' and 'understanding' as overall aims rather than 'truth'.

I would love to know what you all think of this list and my reflections, all of which are provisional (open to criticism, revision or rejection). I have already acknowledged many colleagues who, in conversations with me, have in some way contributed to this list.

(This list first appeared in 40 lessons to get children thinking as an appendix, and when Tim Sprod referred to it in his review of the book for JPS it was only 26 long. I've been adding to it on-and-off ever since.)

A well-orchestrated public relations campaign led primarily by educational charity The Philosophy Shop has helped raise the profile of the philosophy for children movement in the UK significantly over the last few years. Whilst The Philosophy Shop has been promoting its ‘Four Rs’ campaign to make ‘Reasoning’ a central feature of the National Curriculum since 2009, the publication of founder Peter Worley’s teaching guide The If Machine this March and the ‘Roundtable on Philosophy for Children’ hosted by the Forum for European Philosophy in June suggest there is now confidence in the broad intellectual support of educational practitioners and philosophers alongside the political will necessary to achieve the aspirations of this project.1 An interview with Worley appears in the May/June issue of Philosophy Now magazine, alongside a special section on ‘doing philosophy with children’ dedicated to Matthew Lipman. Lipman, who pioneered the philosophy for children and communities (‘P4C’) movement in the USA during the 1970s, died at the end of last year. It was his work that inspired the foundation of the educational charity SAPERE (Society for Advancing Philosophy Enquiry and Reflection in Education) in 1992, which also held its own ‘Introduction to Philosophy for Children’ event in July.

It is significant that this joint push for basic philosophical teaching for children coincides with the growing popularity of philosophy at A-level. In contrast, applications to study the subject at degree level have dropped in the last year (along with less vocational humanities subjects in general, a trend we might expect to continue with the trebling of tuition fees), whilst philosophy programmes in higher education seem to have been bearing the particular brunt of hasty and often brutal attempts to rationalize resources and cut costs. Over the last year protests against the announced closures of philosophy at Liverpool and Keele have forced managerial reversals, whilst the purging of philosophy courses at Middlesex, Greenwich, London Met and, most recently, Northampton continues. It is the context of this broader crisis that demands our attention here, not least because a popular drive towards philosophy may be a symptom either of a revitalization that could spread into higher education or of its regression and eventual expiration.

Amidst the many calls for teaching critical thinking in our schools, this chapter argues that what is most important for education is philosophical thinking. The p4c Hawai’i pedagogy offers an approach to further philosophical thinking in schools while reconceptualizing what “philosophizing” entails. This chapter then presents the key elements of p4c Hawai’i pedagogy as a proven way to help develop teachers and classrooms that cultivate philosophical thinking. These elements are presented not only for K-12 classrooms but in the context of redesigning teacher education programs. This chapter is not presenting a program or curriculum but instead highlights key areas of change. Colleges of education must restructure their approach to current teacher preparation programs in order to instill, model, and foster the type of teaching that we wish to produce in our educators.

FORWARD by Maughn Gregory
CHAPTER 1: Reconstructing Childhood
CHAPTER 2: Schooling, Neoteny, Ethical Reconstruction, and the Child as Privileged Stranger
CHAPTER 3: Philosophy for Children and the Reconstruction of Philosophy
CHAPTER 4:  Why Philosophy for Children Now?
CHAPTER 5:  Communal Philosophical Dialogue and the Intersubject
CHAPTER 6: Thinking for Oneself and with Others
CHAPTER 7: Young Children's Moves: Emergent Community of Philosophical Inquiry in Early Childhood Discourse
CHAPTER 8: The Role of a Facilitator in a Community of Philosophical Inquiry
CHAPTER 9: Forming Communities of Philosophical Inquiry in Early Childhood Classrooms
CHAPTER 10: Using Peter Rabbit as a Philosophical Text with Young Children
CHAPTER 11:  The Five Communities
REFERENCES
INDICES

In discussion about deconstruction with Helene Cixous and Nicholas Royle, Jacques Derrida inserts the idea of ‘returns to childhood’.  Responding to Derrida, we propose the different move of ‘re-turning to child’, on the basis of putting picturebooks, philosophy with children and posthumanism into entangled play with one another. The figuration of posthuman child disrupts the pervasive conception of temporality that takes development and progress as inevitable. We exemplify how the nature/culture binary modernist notion of progress is de(con)structed through children’s animistic philosophising.  Further, with Miranda Fricker’s frame of epistemic injustice, we argue that prejudices about children’s authority as knowers express onto-epistemic injustice in the evaluation of young children’s philosophising and that these prejudices echo dominant adultist perspectives on animist epistemologies and ontologies. We adopt the position that philosophy begins with wonder. To illustrate the generative power of children’s animated and animistic thinking, we turn again to material recorded by Joanna with a class of 4-7 year olds philosophising through a picturebook called Corduroy.

This chapter begins by illustrating the role of children in philosophy, and how childhood may impact philosophy, by turning to the work of Stanley Cavell. In particular this chapter focuses on his idea of philosophy as a confrontation with our culture’s criteria, but read in the light of Pierre Hadot’s understanding of philosophy as a way of life. It goes on to consider how the philosophy for children movement has developed through three generations of thought and practice. To illustrate how these generations have emerged, the chapter surveys differing views of the use of picture books in children’s philosophizing and philosophy. Going on from the third generation’s criticism of how the philosophy for children movement’s use of picture books has been insufficiently aware of its own assumptions, limits, and borders, the chapter concludes by showing that the critical moves from one generation to another in the field itself can be seen as a philosophical way of life, a way of life that involves philosophy for children confronting its own criteria, by emphasizing and questioning not only the boundaries of the content but also of the places where philosophy with children happens.

In '"No Go Areas": Racism and Discomfort in the Community of Inquiry,' Darren Chetty and Judith Suissa raise questions about the practice of Philosophy for Children from the experience of teaching philosophy in racially diverse school and university classrooms. Drawing on the critical philosophy of race, critical whiteness studies and social justice pedagogy, they argue that, despite references to equality and diversity, there are significant omissions in P4C literature and practice related to questions of race and racism. They propose that engaging with, and staying with, the discomfort prompted by discussions around race and racism is vital to any serious reflection and/or action on the democratic and social justice values of P4C.

Whilst continuing racism is often invoked as evidence of the urgent need for Philosophy for Children, there is little in the current literature that addresses the topic. Drawing on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the related field of Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS), I argue that racism is deeply ingrained culturally in society, and best understood in the context of ‘Whiteness’. Following a CRT-informed analysis of two picturebooks that have been recommended as starting points for philosophical enquiry into multiculturalism, racism and diversity – Elmer and Tusk Tusk by David McKee, I argue that whilst the use of stories with animals is commonly regarded as offering children the comfort of distance from emotionally challenging topics, this has the effect of separating racism from its temporal and spatial realities, which limits rather than enhances opportunities for engaging philosophically with it. I argue in favour of the practice of ‘reading against the text’ and consider the epistemological and practical obstacles to this practice drawing on my own experiences discussing race with P4C practitioners in the UK. I attempt to illustrate how the selection of recommended materials, combined with commonly held principles of P4C, make for a climate where a philosophical engagement with race and racism that considers the discourse of ‘Whiteness’ is highly unlikely to occur. This leads me to posit the idea of The Gated Community of Enquiry.

Peters, M. A., & Tesar, M. (2018). The philosophy of early childhood: Examining the cradle of the evil, rational and free child. In M. A. Peters & M. Tesar, (Eds.), Troubling the changing paradigms: An Educational Philosophy and Theory Early Childhood Reader (2-15). New York, NY: Routledge.

Czy filozof psuje młodzież, a zatem – tym bardziej – dzieci? Na sformułowany niemal dwa i pól tysiąca lat temu w Atenach zarzut wobec Sokratesa niniejsza książka odpowiada w nowatorski sposób, pokazując, że szeroko rozumianą tradycją filozofii klasycznej można zainteresować, a przede wszystkim rozwinąć najmłodszych.
"Jak psuć dzieci Platonem i Boecjuszem" to głos w dyskusji nad żywo debatowaną na Zachodzie od lat 70. i budzącą rosnące zainteresowanie w Polsce ideą filozoficznej edukacji dzieci. Dyskutując metodologię wiodącego nurtu „filozofii dla dzieci” i zarazem czerpiąc z bogactwa filozofii i kultury klasycznej oraz klasyków literatury dziecięcej, autorka pokazuje jak w czasach rosnącego tempa wymiany informacji w pełni rozwinąć potencjał myślenia dziecka.
Czytelnik odnajdzie w książce część teoretyczną oraz praktyczną - ta ostatnia zawiera 99 scenariuszy lekcyjnych, z których skorzystać może nauczyciel filozofii, etyki, historii, kultury klasycznej, a także polonista i wychowawca oraz rodzic.
Wartość proponowanego podejścia została potwierdzona nie tylko wysokimi wynikami osiąganymi przez uczniów na egzaminach państwowych, ale także widocznym wzrostem ich kompetencji argumentacyjno-logicznych.

Summary
The book 'How to Corrupt Children with Plato and Boethius. Classical Philosophy for Children. A Method with Texts, Exercises and 99 Lesson Plans' discusses Philosophy for Children (P4C) and proposes a novel method of teaching philosophy in primary schools, called Classical Philosophy for Children (CP4C). The method was accepted, implemented, and is being taught in a school in Cracow. A theoretical part of the book is accompanied by 99 lesson plans supplemented with study materials.
The first part of the book introduces the principles of the programme, details the method, and answers questions as well as concerns that arise about teaching children philosophy. The accusation formulated almost two and a half thousand years ago against Socrates, stating that the philosopher spoils youth rather than makes them wiser, is repeated even today, and when it is put forward by parents, it ought to be properly addressed. In this part of the book, I explain what philosophy is, what it can offer children, and whether it could spoil them. Some parents are afraid that philosophy might lead to indoctrination of their children or the narrowing of their worldview; others name the risk of promoting relativism, intellectual indifference, or scepticism, specifically in respect to moral values, which they try to teach their offspring. Parental doubts pertain also to how philosophy relates to other classes, in particular ethics and religion, and whether it is worthwhile to introduce philosophy to schools that already demand long hours of concentration and discipline from children.
I answer these doubts and questions by pointing to philosophy’s fundamental character, comprising the bases of all sciences and conditioning proficiency in all kinds of investigations. I also discuss the relevance and value of teaching classical philosophy and culture. In response to the objection of possible indoctrination, I distinguish philosophy from ideology and stress that the evident concentration on classical philosophy, on the one hand, and epistemological and logical topics, on the other, shields the programme from any trace of indoctrination. At the same time, it offers desirable didactical effects, such as facilitating children to better understand school subjects, undergo school exams with argumentative and logical skills, and choose future specialisation with more self-insight.
In the second part of the book, I present the ideas for classes organised in a three-year cycle, originally taught from 4th to 6th grade in the Polish educational system (student age: 10–13) but adjusted for students in 6th to 8th grade (age: 12–15), together with lesson plans and materials.
The foundational aim of the programme is to equip children with a set of philosophical skills. Students pose philosophical questions and claims themselves, yet they are not capable of developing their intuitions into complex conceptions or of estimating the epistemological character and validity of their reasoning. In order to make it possible for them, the programme proposes an organised strategy of training philosophical techniques, starting with the basic skills of posing questions, formulating arguments, or justifying beliefs and ending with complex philosophical competences of developing intricate argumentative schemes and conceptualisations of topics as well as performing meta-reflection over the type and validity of a reasoning. This strategy arranges the programme in order to train increasingly more complex philosophical skills and gradually acquire higher cognitive capacities. The strategy distinguishes three levels of training relating to three years of studying and adapted to the psychological developmental stage of pupils.
The starting point of philosophical education in the first year is the encouragement to pose both theoretical and practical questions, and to remain puzzled by the world and people around us. The first trained competence is the capacity to justify one’s beliefs and formulate thoughts as arguments, as well as to identify the relation of justification. Various thinking techniques are exercised: categorising, creating typologies, defining terms, thinking in terms of oppositions, hypothetical thinking, performing classical syllogisms, and considering thought experiments.
The second year of philosophical education builds upon the already-introduced rudimentary capacity of conceptualising issues and develops it by introducing meta-reflection about the thinking itself. Various formal and informal reasoning types are trained: deductions, inductions, reductions, logical proofs, and abstraction.
The third year in the cycle accentuates the practice of the acquired philosophical set of competences by applying them to particular theoretical problems. The scope of skills is hence broadened by implementing the philosophical know-how to solving thought aporiae, drawing conclusions from paradoxes, as well as formulating answers to sceptical arguments and solving riddles.
Throughout the three years, the programme promotes various desirable intellectual habits: the practice of enriching vocabulary through the exercise called copia verborum, gathering quotations in a florilegium, a technique of regular summarising, and celebrating progress made. In the first year, children learn how to deliver philosophical speeches; in the second, how to write philosophical stories or dialogues; and in the third, how to compose philosophical treatises (i.e., argumentative essays).
In the course of the three-year programme, students therefore undergo a process of developing a wide range of skills, starting with the basic capacity to form thoughts as arguments and ending with complex competences of conceptualising topics and implementing philosophical skills to resolve theoretical difficulties. Equipped in such a way, they are capable of independent reflection and valid, in-depth reasoning.