Philosophy Commons^™

Wild Boy (1998) By Mordicai Gerstein, Gareth B. Matthews

Picture Books

Once there was a boy who lived alone, without a mother or father or any friends, in a forest in Southern France. He was naked. He didn’t even know what clothes were. He didn’t know he was a boy. He didn’t know what people were. He was wild. When a group of hunters discovered the boy, they delivered him to scientists in Paris, who eventually gave up trying to communicate with him. The boy was taken in by Dr. Itard and his housekeeper, Madame Guerin, who taught him to dress himself, to read and write simple words, and help around …

The Promise Of A Liberal Arts Education, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

It's an age-old concern. Just what is a liberal arts education supposed to be? It's far more than practical skills, argues Provost Dan DeNicola. Judging by the success of Gettysburg alums who majored in one field and now work in another, learning to think clearly and critically is key to the liberal arts.

Book Review: Curriculum And Aims, James Magrini

Philosophy Scholarship

No abstract provided.

(1997) Some Reflections On Inquiry, Community And Philosophy, Laurance J. Splitter

Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter

Not all communities of inquiry are communities of philosophical inquiry. Still, there is something special and intrinsic about philosophy when it comes to the community of inquiry. Think of Matthew Lipman's oft-repeated claim that philosophy is the discipline that teaches children to think in the disciplines. And remember that one of his (and Dewey's) greatest insights was that children could be members of a community of inquiry. I should like to put these ideas together in the following way: irrespective of whether the inquiry engaged in by a community is philosophical, the community itself is philosophical. In short, every community …

(1996) The Practice Of Philosophy In The Classroom, Laurance J. Splitter, Ann Margaret Sharp

Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter

Philosophy for Children is at once strongly child-centred and highly teacher-sensitive. It encourages students to delve into, and build upon, ideas, concepts and problems that they themselves choose as both interesting and, in some sense, important. Yet it is the teacher who, at least in the first instance, must encourage her students to talk and to listen, who must weave into a coherent form their disparate thoughts and ideas, and who must exemplify modes of thoughtful and reasonable behaviour.

(1996) John Passmore: On Teaching To Be Critical, Laurance J. Splitter

Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter

"What," asks John Passmore, "is it to teach a child to be critical, and how can we tell whether we have been successful in doing so?" Notice the phrasing of Passmore's question: his concern is with being critical--that is, with being a critical thinker qua being a person of a certain kind--rather than with (merely) thinking critically. Part of the answer, then, is implicit in the question itself: to be critical is not a matter of being informed, or of blind habit, or even of skill (although he does not altogether deny the skills component). It is, chiefly, an attitude …

Why Should Educators Care About Argumentation?, Harvey Siegel

Philosophy Articles and Papers

Educators who are reflective about their educational endeavours ask themselves questions like: What is the aim of education? What moral, methodological, or other constraints govern our educational activities and efforts? One natural place to look for answers is in the philosophy of education, which (among other things) tries to provide systematic answers to these questions. One general answer offered by the philosophy of education is that the aim of education consists in fostering the development of students' rationality. On this view, education has as its fundamental task both the development of students' reasoning ability, and also the fostering of a …

(1995) On The Theme Of “Teaching For Higher Order Thinking Skills”, Laurance J. Splitter

Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter

In my view, the “lower-order/higher-order" dichotomy has passed its “use by" date. If we examine concepts like “comprehension” and "knowledge" a-Ia Bloom, and even such a focal curriculum concept as “literacy", what we uncover are not single skills which are at some point on a “lower-order/higher-order” scale but, at best, complexes of skills ranging from the more, to the less, basic. To teach for better thinking involves understanding the complexity of “thinking" and of those many skills which comprise it. It involves understanding that the kinds of characteristics offered by theorists of thinking do not pick out a higher – …

(1995) Philosophy For Children Planning Workshop Report, Laurance J. Splitter

Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter

On the weekend of October 6-8, 1995, the Centre of Philosophy for Children at ACER conducted a "strategic planning workshop" which brought together 25 philosophers, teachers, principals, psychologists and teacher educators from all Australian states and territories, plus New Zealand. Its purpose was to address a number of key questions relating to the future development of philosophy in Australian schools.

(1993) Reflections On Karl Popper And Philosophy For Children, Philip C. Guin

Collected Papers of Philip C. Guin

The purpose of this essay is to ascertain the extent to which Karl Popper's conjectures about the status of knowledge can provide underpinnings for a new perspective on education, and in particular, a perspective which allows for a better understanding of Philosophy for Children.

Silence (And Its Voluble Partner), Andrew Taylor

Research outputs pre 2011

Silence may traditionally have been golden, but how is it valued today? Can it survive the impact of a technology which can, and does, bring the apparently irresistible seductions of noise to the remotest parts of the world, and which invades the most reclusive aspects of our lives? And what place has silence in a culture such as ours which classifies it as "unproductive"?

But what is silence anyway?

Professor Taylor considers two ways in which, from the Romantic period onward, silence has been conceived. One tradition equates silence with Truth itself; the other considers it the condition which enables …

(1991) Children In Chaos: A Philosophy For Children Experience, Leonard Harris

Collected Papers of Leonard Harris

A provocative encounter between two liberal models of education. John Dewey's model of education, developed as a philosophy for children program by Matthew Lipman, Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, emphasizes dialogue in a community of inquiry. Carter G. Woodson's model of education emphasizes learning for the purpose of social "uplift," particularly the uplift of African Americans. The two emphases clash in the experience of a philosopher working with children and teachers in four Washington D.C. elementary schools.

The experiences of teachers, the dialogue of students, and the struggles of an elementary school administrator tell the story of …

(1991) The Community Of Inquiry And Educational Structure., David K. Kennedy

Collected Papers of David Kennedy

Young people engaged in philosophical dialogue sometimes exhibit resistance to the program, expressed in boredom, impatience, and sometimes even rejection. My theory is that, in addition to a lot of reasons like the ones just cited, the problem has to do with the way schools and classrooms are structured, which in turn is the result of an overall educational model--what Matthew Lipman has referred to as "tribal" or "information-acquisition" education. I want to argue that there is a "new" educational model—in fact it is already about 200 years old—and that it has the strucmral characteristics which provide place for what …

(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.

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 …

(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.

Humans And Other Animals: A Biological And Ethical Perspective, Ashley Montagu

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

What I have been hoping to do in this talk is to provide the scientific basis for the biological kinship of humans with other animals in particular and the whole of nature in general, and to show that the ethical perspective to which such a demonstration leads is inherent in the very nature of nature, that cooperation, love, not conflict and aggression, as we have long been led to believe, is the dominant principle by which living creatures are designed to live with each other. It was not Darwin, but the muscular Darwinists, like Herbert Spencer, who wasn't a biologist …

(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.

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 …

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 …

(1983) Education For Autonomy: A Nietzschean Perspective, Ann Margaret Sharp

Collected Papers of Ann Margaret Sharp

Friedrich Nietzsche was aware of the dangers of the state control over education, as well as the dangers of the technical society in general. Dehumanization, loss of freedom and power to create alternatives for the society could spell the death of the society itself. Human beings could well become nothing more than cogs in a machine of production and consumption. The human self whose urge is the will to grow, to become more, will eventually have nothing to will anymore. Ohly an education which encourages a new conception of freedom -- intellectual freedom as the self affirmation of life against …

Raging Robots And Unruly Uncles (1981) By Margaret Mahy, Gareth B. Matthews

Chapter Books

When, as a practical joke, the seven wicked sons of Wicked Jasper send a goody-goody robot named Lilly Rose Blossom to their virtuous cousin Prudence, daughter of their virtuous uncle Julian, she sends them a fiendishly insolent robot called the Nadger. Each household finds its robot so annoying that the cousins all run away from home and form a successful community together, eventually joined by a wiser Jasper and a chastened Julian. Though zany and wildly farcical, this story is also serious and thought-provoking – about the problem of minds and machines, the possibilities of free will, the nature of …

(1982) Nobody Can Teach Anyone Anything (1971) By Wilfred Rusk Wees, Philip C. Guin

Collected Papers of Philip C. Guin

In this review, Guin concurs with Wees that, instead of survival schooling the whole purpose of education is to nurture the child's power of thought, since thought is the basic resource in the child's search for purposes and meanings.

Upside-Down Cat (1981) Elizabeth Parsons, Maughn Gregory

Chapter Books

Lily Black, nicknamed the “Upside-Down Cat” from her habit of lying on her back over a hot-air register to keep warm, lives with Joe and his parents in New York City and summers with them in Maine. When she disappears at the end of one summer, Joe and his family have no choice but to return to New York without her. A kind lobsterman finds Lily, takes care of her all winter, and becomes fond of her. The next summer, when Joe finds Lily on the man’s boat, they have to decide whom Lily really belongs to—if anyone.

(1977) Philosophy In The Classroom: A Response To Wilson, Levinson And Moore, Philip C. Guin

Collected Papers of Philip C. Guin

In response to reviews of Philosophy in the Classroom (Matthew Lipman, Ann Margaret Sharp, and Frederick S. Oscanyan, 1977) by John Wilson, Daniel Levinson, and J.T. Moore (Teaching Philosophy 2(3/4): 392-395, attached here) Guin notes that the book was written for teachers, prospective teachers, administrators, and others preparing to implement an elementary program in philosophy without previous training in logic, epistemology, or ethics, and that the author’s claims are not speculative, but reflect documented achievements. He argues that the book is well-suited for teachers anxious to learn how to get at the ideas embedded in a philosophical novel, how …

08. First Edition Of Lisa (1976) By Matthew Lipman, Matthew Lipman

Middle School Curriculum

Lisa is the story of a school year in the life of an adolescent girl and her classmates, a year studded with physical, aesthetic and ethical awakenings. Various events in these young people's lives prompt them to puzzle over such issues as animal rights, sexism, racism, justice, divorce and death. All of them struggle with issues of identity and thinking for oneself - philosophical issues of perennial concern to adolescents. As they begin to recognize the ethical dimensions of their experience, Lisa and her friends puzzle over such philosophical concepts as the right, the fair, the good, perfection, and naturalism. …

(1976) The Teacher As Liberator: A Nietzschean View, Ann Margaret Sharp

Collected Papers of Ann Margaret Sharp

It is Nietzsche's view that it is the main task of the educator to reach out for the student and to become his agent of liberation, aware that the end result will inevitably be the creation of men who will come into conflict with the prevailing norms of society and who will begin the process of the creation of new values for mankind. In order for this value-creator to become a reality, educators must will his existence consciously and then set about systematically to form him.

(1975) Education And Culture: A Nietzschean Perspective, Ann Margaret Sharp

Collected Papers of Ann Margaret Sharp

Friedrich Nietzsche was aware of the dangers of the state control over education, as well as the dangers of the technical society in general. Dehumanization, loss of freedom and power to create alternatives for the society could spell the death of the society itself. Human beings could well become nothing more than cogs in a machine of production and consumption. The human self whose urge is the will to grow, to become more, will eventually have nothing to will anymore. Ohly an education which encourages a new conception of freedom -- intellectual freedom as the self affirmation of life against …

(1975) Nietzsche’S View Of Sublimation In The Educational Process, Ann Margaret Sharp

Collected Papers of Ann Margaret Sharp

Against the prevailing "return to nature" educational philosophy of his day, Nietzsche stressed sublimation, the active redirecting of one's life energy or the channeling of one's power in the service of creativity, and the inevitability of suffering as essential in the attainment of free­dom. The current educational practice which mitigates the importance of sublimation and suffering were, in his view, a subversive tactic of the German State to keep the reins on individual autonomy and creativity and insure conformity to the status quo.