I just found this on the NY Times website. It is an article discussing the possibilities of children being able to think abstractly and do philosophy. It is philosophy done through children's books. I thought it was interesting that one of the books being discussed philosophically was The Giving Tree.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18philosophy-t.html?hp
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I agree with Professor Lipman's conclusion that "curiosity and sense of wonder make children ripe for philosophic inquiry". It seems like younger children are constantly asking "Why?" when adults explain things to them about the way the world works and why people do certain things or behave certain ways. Children are generally more open-minded than adults, and I think it's good to encourage this open-mindedness and teach them many different ways of thinking at a young age. I think it's important to introduce philosophy (if in a simplified form) at a younger age because this allows more time for people to achieve a better understanding of human behavior and develop their own interpretations over the years. Sometimes it's much harder for adults to grasp some of the finer points of philosophical reasoning because we never really got a chance to explore a variety of "whys" or develop our own "becauses" when we were younger. Ultimately, I believe that encouraging children to have open minds and to explore philosophical thinking is probably a good thing. I hope what I said makes some sense.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of Garreth Matthews and the several other scholars who work on philosophy for children.
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