Philosophy Commons^™

06. Elfie, Book Two, 1st Edition (Novel), Matthew Lipman

Early Elementary School Curriculum

Elfie is in the first grade and is so shy she can’t speak in class and can hardly even formulate a question. Yet little escapes her and her mind puzzles over everything that happens in class and at home. When the principal proposes a contest aimed at improving reasoning, her whole class is caught up in figuring out how sentences work and how distinctions and connections are made. At the same time, Elfie and her classmates discover many distinctions fundamental to inquiry: appearance and reality, the one and the many, parts and wholes, similarity and difference, permanence and change.

07. Getting Our Thoughts Together: Instructional Manual To Accompany 'Elfie, Book Two', Matthew Lipman, Ann Gazzard

Early Elementary School Curriculum

The cognitive skills emphasized in Elfie – distinction-making and connection-making – are those on which all-subsequent reasoning rests. They are accompanied by the criteria that are appropriate to them: sameness and difference. Other operations like the making of comparisons, the discovery of uniformities, the identification of classes, the formation of concepts, and the formulation of definition, all depend upon the logical infrastructure of these two sets of skills and criteria. Elfie should therefore be seen as the base of the Philosophy for Children program.

05. Getting Our Thoughts Together: Instructional Manual To Accompany 'Elfie, Book One', Matthew Lipman, Ann Gazzard

Early Elementary School Curriculum

The cognitive skills emphasized in Elfie – distinction-making and connection-making – are those on which all-subsequent reasoning rests. They are accompanied by the criteria that are appropriate to them: sameness and difference. Other operations like the making of comparisons, the discovery of uniformities, the identification of classes, the formation of concepts, and the formulation of definition, all depend upon the logical infrastructure of these two sets of skills and criteria. Elfie should therefore be seen as the base of the Philosophy for Children program.

09. Getting Our Thoughts Together: Instructional Manual To Accompany 'Elfie, Book Three', Matthew Lipman, Ann Gazzard

Early Elementary School Curriculum

The cognitive skills emphasized in Elfie – distinction-making and connection-making – are those on which all-subsequent reasoning rests. They are accompanied by the criteria that are appropriate to them: sameness and difference. Other operations like the making of comparisons, the discovery of uniformities, the identification of classes, the formation of concepts, and the formulation of definition, all depend upon the logical infrastructure of these two sets of skills and criteria. Elfie should therefore be seen as the base of the Philosophy for Children program.

08. Elfie, Book Three, 1st Edition (Novel), Matthew Lipman

Early Elementary School Curriculum

Elfie is in the first grade and is so shy she can’t speak in class and can hardly even formulate a question. Yet little escapes her and her mind puzzles over everything that happens in class and at home. When the principal proposes a contest aimed at improving reasoning, her whole class is caught up in figuring out how sentences work and how distinctions and connections are made. At the same time, Elfie and her classmates discover many distinctions fundamental to inquiry: appearance and reality, the one and the many, parts and wholes, similarity and difference, permanence and change.

11. Elfie: Sources And References For Book One, Matthew Lipman

Early Elementary School Curriculum

This sequential bibliography matches the 1989 edition of Elfie, Book One page by page. It contains both sources—works that influenced Matthew Lipman in writing the novel, references to philosophical works he Ann Gazzard recommend to explore the novels’ philosophical themes, and brief commentary on them by Lipman.

10. Index To Elfie, 1st Edition, Matthew Lipman, Ann Gazzard

Early Elementary School Curriculum

This Index includes a Table of Contents to the episodes of each chapter of the first edition of 'Elfie' (novel) and the Leading Ideas, Discussion Plans, Exercises, and Activities in each chapter of 'Getting Our Thoughts Together: Instructional Manual to Elfie'.

Two Islands (1985) By Ivan Gantschev, Gareth B. Matthews

Picture Books

This is the story of two islands in the middle of the ocean: Greenel, whose citizens kept it fertile and green, and Graynel, whose citizens covered it with factories and skyscrapers. Citizens of Graynel wanted to vacation on Greenel and proposed to build a bridge between the islands, but the citizens of Greenel refused. Intending to force the bridge, citizens of Graynel stockpiled steel and cement and weapons on one end of the island, eventually causing it to tip on its edge and slide into the sea. While the moral of this modern fable is obvious – overarching human ambition, …

(1988) Hreinn (Philosophical Story), Ann Margaret Sharp

Collected Papers of Ann Margaret Sharp

Introduction: "Have you ever wondered how words began?" Monica asked. "I have," Stefan responded. "Did you come up with any theories?" "I'm afraid not," Stefan said. "The most I could think of was that perhaps words are what we make up to gather up the silence. That's not much of a theory." "I have a theory, Monica," I said. "Do you want to hear it?" The class settled down as if they were expecting a story.

(1988) A Guided Tour Of The Logic In Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery, Laurance J. Splitter

Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter

Logic forms the spine or backbone of the Harry syllabus, although it is by no means the only philosophical theme that arises there. The nature of thoughts and the mind, reality, dreaming and imagination, the purposes of education, differences of degree and of kind, causation, freedom and responsibility, the concept of a rule, empathy, duties and rights, and the concept of personhood are also topics which belong to the tradition of philosophical inquiry.

Bee-Man Of Orn (1883/1986) By Frank R. Stockton, Gareth B. Matthews

Picture Books

In the country of Orn there lived an old man who inhabited a house full of beehives. One day a sorcerer informed the Bee-man that he had been transformed from some other kind of creature and should be changed back. The Bee-man set out on a journey to discover his original form and, after rescuing a baby from a dragon, realized he had been transformed from a baby. The sorcerer made him a baby again, who was raised by the rescued baby’s mother. Many years later, the sorcerer returned to Orn and discovered that the baby had grown up to …

"Dragons And Giants" From Frog And Toad Together By Arnold Lobel, Gareth B. Matthews, Lenore Carlisle Reilly, Shari Tishman

Wise Owl: Talking and Thinking about Children’s Literature

"Dragons and Giants" is a story about bravery. But it doesn't exactly demonstrate what bravery is, or explain how to tell whether someone is brave. Instead it shows what bravery is not (running away from danger and hiding in a bed or a closet) and how not to tell whether you are brave (by, say, looking in a mirror). Both children and adults laugh at Frog's and Toad's foolish behavior and at the foolishness of what they say. Our laughter shows that we recognize an inappropriateness, a conceptual gap between bravery and the efforts of these creatures to deal with …

1. Harry Prime (Novel), Matthew Lipman

Adult Education Curriculum

Like the other Students in the Thinking and Learning Environment, Harry Prime has enrolled in an evening course in search of his High School Equivalency Certificate. Before long, he and his friends discover that some ways of thinking are better than others. They promptly turn their newfound powers of critical reasoning upon such matters as science, art, religion, education and mind. As they proceed with their discussions, they disclose what it is to form a community of inquiry.

Harry Prime (like Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery, another philosophical novel by Matthew Lipman) is a fictional introduction to philosophy and logic. Some …

Bear That Wasn't By Frank Tashlin, Gareth B. Matthews, Lenore Carlisle Reilly, Shari Tishman

Wise Owl: Talking and Thinking about Children’s Literature

In this classic children’s book (available at The Open Library), a bear wakes up from winter hibernation to find that his forest has been replaced by a factory. To make matters even worse, every human he on the assembly line and in the corporate offices, and every bear he meets at the zoo and the circus, insists that he's not even a bear, just a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat. As Gareth B. Matthews observed, the book’s “philosophical whimsy” raises a host of basic epistemological and metaphysical questions.

Albert’S Impossible Toothache By Barbara Williams, Gareth B. Matthews, Lenore Carlisle Reilly, Shari Tishman

Wise Owl: Talking and Thinking about Children’s Literature

This is the story of a young turtle named Albert, who claims to have a toothache but doesn't have any teeth. Poor Albert must be mistaken, we think at first - a trifle condescendingly - but perhaps his mistake is not so naive as it seems. This is only one of the philosophical puzzlers raised in Albert’s Toothache. The Wise Owl questions are designed not so much to elicit the "right answer" as to invite young students to think critically and imaginatively about philosophical ideas, using their own language and drawing upon their own experiences.

(1987) Educational Reform Through Philosophy For Children, Laurance J. Splitter

Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter

Thinking should be incorporated into the curriculum and this crucial task should not be left until secondary school, nor placed in the sole care of the traditional school disciplines. Teaching thinking involves transforming the classroom into a community of inquiry. The key to inquiry at whatever level is structured, organized thinking. By bringing this structure to bear on classroom activity, the teacher can transform ordinary discussion into dialogue. At all levels, teachers and students together must find ways to integrate the dimensions of inquiry and discovery into their activities. Nevertheless, the classroom community of inquiry should be focused around …

(1987) History And Curriculum Dynamics Of The Philosophy For Children Program: The Spinal Cord, Ann Margaret Sharp

Collected Papers of Ann Margaret Sharp

In this conversation transcript, Sharp relates the thinking behind the philosophy for children curriculum written by Matthew Lipman and herself.

Many Moons By James Thurber, Gareth B. Matthews, Lenore Carlisle Reilly, Shari Tishman

Wise Owl: Talking and Thinking about Children’s Literature

James Thurber's story, Many Moons, invites us to view and think about the moon in a fresh way, both as it is in itself and as it may appear to people. In doing so we may increase our powers of observation as well as our capacity to enter imaginatively into the lives of others. We may also learn to think more clearly about appearance and reality, and how the two are related.

"Cookies" From Frog And Toad Together By Arnold Lobel, Gareth B. Matthews

Wise Owl: Talking and Thinking about Children’s Literature

Socrates and Plato thought that we can’t really want what we know is bad for us, or do what we know we shouldn’t be doing. Euripides and Saint Augustine thought it was obvious that we often do both things. This topic in philosophy is still being argued today, and it is the central topic of Arnold Lobel’s story “Cookies,” from his collection Frog and Toad Together. Do we really eat cookies against our will? Can we do something without really wanting to do it?

Pupils Learn To Use Intellectual Wings, Anne Kovalenko

Collected Papers of Philip C. Guin

Teaching children to think appears to be poles apart from the continuing problem of alcohol and drug abuse in the schools. Yet, a meaningful relationship between the two is apparent in a program called "Philosophy for Children" -- recently introduced in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania area schools.

3. Philosophical Sources & References For 'Kio & Gus', Matthew Lipman

Later Elementary School Curriculum

This sequential bibliography matches the 1982 edition of Kio & Gus page by page. It contains both sources—works that influenced Matthew Lipman in writing the novel—and references to philosophical works he and Ann Margaret Sharp recommend to explore the novels’ philosophical themes.

2. Wondering At The World: Instructional Manual To Accompany 'Kio & Gus', Matthew Lipman, Ann Margaret Sharp

Later Elementary School Curriculum

This instructional manual for the novel Kio & Gus aims at helping children think about the world by encouraging them to acquire reasoning and inquiry skills. Through hundreds of exercises and discussion plans, children are shown how these cognitive skills can be applied to the concepts by means of which we understand the world of nature. As a result, this program is an ideal introduction to science and environmental education, as well as an excellent language arts curriculum. There is also a strong ethical thread in the novel revolving around a myriad of issues in environmental ethics, our relationships with …

Guest Scholar At St. Olaf, Albert Lee Tribune

Collected Papers of Peter Shea

Peter Shea, a nationally-known expert on doing philosophy with children and the convener of the newly-established Minnesota Center for Children's Thinking, will be a guest scholar at St. Olaf College in Northfield, NM.

Dragons And Giants From Frog And Toad Together (1971) By Arnold Lobel, Gareth B. Matthews

Chapter Books

Every story in Arnold Lobel's remarkable collection Frog and Toad Together exemplifies a trait I have called "philosophical whimsy"—humor that prods us readers to reflect on some philosophically interesting issue. In "Dragons and Giants," the humor begins when Frog and Toad look in a mirror to see if they are brave. Bravery is as difficult to be perfectly clear about as it is hard to ignore or devalue. It has puzzled and intrigued philosophers from Plato down to the present day. Children are admonished from a very young age to be brave. Blessed is the adult who invites, recognizes, and …

Philosophy For Children, Bob Elhert

Collected Papers of Peter Shea

A dozen educators in the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School District are implementing the Philosophy for Children program developed by Matthew Lipman at the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children at Montclair State College in New Jersey. Peter Shea, a philosophy Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota, is observed facilitating a children's philosophy session and provides commentary.

(1986) On Thinking For Yourself., Laurance J. Splitter

Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter

Address to the Annual Speech Night of Sydney Boys High School, on Wednesday, December 4, 1985, by Laurance J. Splitter, Director of the Australian Institute of Philosophy for Children.

Msc Sponsors Philosophers Gathering, The Montclair Times

Collected Papers of Philip C. Guin

Twenty-six philosophers from five countries and seven states are gathering for a conference sponsored by Montclair State College's Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children in Mendham, New Jersey.

09. Ethical Inquiry: Instructional Manual To Accompany Lisa, Matthew Lipman, Ann Margaret Sharp

Middle School Curriculum

The aim of this program is to provide students with the tools they need to deliberate well about ethical issues. These tools include anticipating consequences, taking all the circumstances into account, giving good reasons, universalizing, being consistent, and projecting ideals of the people they would like to be and the world they would like to live in. In addition to the use of such tools, good ethical inquiry also involves an understanding of metaphysical, ethical, social, and aesthetic concepts. For this reasons, ETHICAL INQUIRY provides a host of introductions to concepts such as self, time, personhood, reciprocity, and freedom, as …

(1985) Philosophy For Children: An Important Curriculum Innovation, Laurance J. Splitter

Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter

Young children possess attributes which deserve to be called philosophical. These may be separated into two broad clusters: a structural or methodological component and a substantive component. These components provide the basis of a curriculum and teaching methodology which addresses some key educational objectives. Philosophy for Children is a program which utilizes and expands upon the capacity for reflection and inquiry which all children possess by creating, in the classroom, a community of inquiry. This is achieved with the help of three resources: (a) a philosophical novel, (b) an accompanying manual for teachers, (c) a teacher who is both philosophically …

04. Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery, Matthew Lipman, Ann Margaret Sharp, Frederick S. Oscanyan

Middle School Curriculum

This instructional manual includes hundreds of short, accessible explanations of the philosophical ideas and issues written into HARRY the novel, and as such is a valuable introduction to philosophy. Adults with no experience in academic philosophy will have no trouble using this manual to engage young people in philosophical dialogue. The manual provides discussion plans and exercises to help the students think for themselves about the philosophical ideas most relevant to their experience. The manual is also a primer in critical thinking and formal and informal logic, which are treated as helpful tools for inquiry. Students will find the logic …