Philosophy Goes to School

238 Pages·1988·14.787 MB·English

by  Matthew Lipman

F~hilosophy
Gloes to School
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=534265.
Created from nyulibrary-ebooks on 2021-04-10 23:26:38.
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=534265.
Created from nyulibrary-ebooks on 2021-04-10 23:26:38.
Philosophy
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lMatthew Lipman
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=534265.
Created from nyulibrary-ebooks on 2021-04-10 23:26:38.
Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122
Copyright © 1988 by Temple University. All rights reserved
Published 1988
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for Information
Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials
ANSI Z39.48-1984
Library of Congress Cataloging-in· Publication Data
Lipman, Matthew.
Philosophy goes to school.
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ser sthg I1n. cPluhdielso siondpehxy. -Study and teaching (Elementary)
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.sserP IBS5B2N.L 05-5897 72129-8583 7-307 2(a.8lk . paper8)7 -18071
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=534265.
Created from nyulibrary-ebooks on 2021-04-10 23:26:38.
Contents
Preface vii
I. Introduction
1. Remaking the Foundations 3
II. Philosophy in Education
2. Philosophical Practice and Educational Reform 11
3. The Role of Philosophy in Education for Thinking 29
4. Philosophy, Critical Thinking, and the Core of
Common Culture 35
HI. Ethical Inquiry in the Schools
5. Education for Civic Values 47
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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vi Contents
V. Reflections on Practice: Implications for Educational Reform
11. Constructing a Curriculum to Improve Thinking
and Understanding 141
12. Preparing Teachers to Teach for Thinking 151
13. Twelve Sessions with Pixie in P.S. 87: A Classroom Log 160
14. Philosophy and Creativity 173
VI. Epilogue
15. The Philosophy of Childhood 191
Appendix: Applying Specific Reasoning Skills to
Value Questions 199
No~s 219
Bibliography 223
Index 227
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=534265.
Created from nyulibrary-ebooks on 2021-04-10 23:26:38.
Preface
The trickle of philosophy into the schools is still tiny, but it is perceptible
and growing steadily. Many educators concerned with improving the
quality of children's thinking have become aware that philosophy is a
living and reliable: educational option. The same is true of educators
seeking elementary school humanities programs with which to enrich
the skill-oriented curriculum typical of today's schools: philosophy offers
children a chance to discuss those concepts, such as truth, that cut across
all other disciplines but are openly examined by none. It provides a forum
in which children can discover for themselves the relevance to their lives
of the ideals that have shaped the lives of everyone. With every day that
passes, the presence of philosophy in the schools is more accepted, more
taken for granted, and the fact that it has hitherto been absent is what is
found more and more to be astonishing.
Accompanying the emergence of philosophy as an elementary school
discipline has been a small parade of studies documenting the feasibil
ity of engaging in philosophical inquiry with children-works such as
Gareth B. Matthews's Philosophy and the Young Child and Dialogues with
Children, Ronald F. Reed's Talking with Children, Michael S. Pritchard's
.d Philosophical Adventures with Children, and Lipman and Sharp's Growing
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.sse Lipman, Sharp, and Oscanyan. On the one hand, this book has provided a
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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viii Preface
the Classroom attempts to deal but perforce must touch on rather lightly
in its effort to be comprehensive. Some of these issues are of sufficient
weight such that an amplified discussion of them cannot be too long
postponed. Examples are the relationship of the teaching of philosophy to
the improvement of thinking, the nature of a community of inquiry, and
the educational significance of grade school philosophy.
This book seeks to address the educational significance of grade school
philosophy, although it occasionally may throw a sidelong glance at some
of the other issues just mentioned. In doing so, it has sought a balance of
generality and specificity.
Part II of the book discusses the general question of the contribu
tion of philosophy to elementary and secondary school education. Several
flashbacks to Plato attempt to provide a historical perspective, and some
references to the contemporary educational scene indicate where philos
ophy is to be found in the spectrum of curricular offerings available to
the present-day school administrator.
Part III and Chapter 14 explore the contributions to education that
may be expected from two particular branches of philosophy-ethics
and aesthetics. The questions of creativity treated in Chapter 14 were
among those most noticeably absent from Philosophy in the Classroom.
The discussion here is hardly definitive but may be seen as an introduction
to further exploration. The same is true of the remarks dealing with ethical
and civic education.
In Part IV, an effort is made to deal with particular subject areas at
particular educational levels to illustrate how philosophy can be relevant
in these respects. The subject areas are language arts, science, and social
studies.
Part V returns to the themes of educational practice and educational
reform that had appeared in Chapter 1. It offers some reflections on
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.sse troduction was originally published in Federation Reports: The Jour
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vinU nal of Thought 20, no. 4 (Winter, 1985): 20-36 (with a response by
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=534265.
Created from nyulibrary-ebooks on 2021-04-10 23:26:38.
Preface ix
was a position paper commissioned in 1981 by the New York State
Department of Education. "Ethical Inquiry and the Craft of Moral
Practice" appeared in the Journal of Moral Education, 16, no. 2
(May, 1987): 139-47, by permission of NFER-NELSON, Windsor, Eng
land. Chapters 7 through 10 have served as introductions to instructional
manuals in the Philosophy for Children curriculum. Chapter 11 originally
appeared in CT News 5, no. 3/4 (Jan.-Feb., 1987): 1,5-7. Chapter 12
was published originally in Philosophy Today 31, no. 1/4 (Spring, 1987):
90-96, and a portion of Chapter 13 was published in Analytic Teach
ing 3, no. 1 (Nov.-Dec., 1982): 19-25. Chapter Fifteen (the Epilogue) is
taken from Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 2, nos. 3-4,
pp. 4-7. A portion of the Appendix appeared originally in National Fo
rum 65, no. 1 (Winter, 1985): 22-23. Reprinted with permission from
National Forum, "Critical Thinking," Winter 1985.
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=534265.
Created from nyulibrary-ebooks on 2021-04-10 23:26:38.
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Lipman, Matthew. Philosophy Goes to School, Temple University Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=534265.
Created from nyulibrary-ebooks on 2021-04-10 23:26:38.