子どものための哲学:歴史・概念・方法 <フォーラム>

Philosophy for children - the conduct of philosophical dialogues in the classroom in elementary school and junior high school - is in its fourth decade since Matthew Lipman of Montclair State University introduced it in the seventies. Begun as logical training in the first place and on a limited scale, it has since widened in scope and perspective and become a world wide movement. If philosophy is the collective exploration of our common world of experience it is evidently of importance in education. In this article I will argue that doing philosophy is an excellent means to further autonomous thinking, which is all the more important because education takes ever more time. Philosophical discussion stimulates not only analytical skills, but also questioning, speculation, and social skills in the co-operative effort to find answers to important questions. The article further goes into the means of introducing philosophical topics in the classroom: by means of stories, or even by introducing objects into the classroom. And, finally, it discusses the scope of problems which can be discussed in the classroom, which is much wider than would seem at first view. A short list of literature on the subject is added.