Step 1: Philosophical Literacy and Reading For All Purposes
Young readers and English Language Learners need not be intimidated by philosophy. For our purposes, "philosophical literacy" does not mean the ability to read the terse language of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, or Kant (see Goering and Whitaker). Instead, we're talking about the ability to read grade-level texts with philosophical lenses and communicate about basic philosophical ideas and debates. We're talking about, in other words, a disciplined way of reading, writing, and discussing rooted in the fundamental questions that have engaged humans for thousands of years. We're talking about the process of reading, inquiring, and writing about living a “good life.”
Philosophical Reading
Peter Worley, a prominent Philosophy with Children advocate and educator in the U.K., argues that doing philosophy with children means engaging with ethical, metaphysical, or epistemological questions. I broaden Worley’s definition of doing philosophy with adolescents to include other main branches of philosophy. According to this working definition, philosophical reading involves actively questioning
within some basic philosophical categories: (1) ethics, (2) metaphysics, (3)
epistemology, (4) logic, (5) axiology, and/or (6) aesthetics.
You need not scare would-be readers with words like these, though. Most simply, philosophy is the love of wisdom, and wisdom is having knowledge and knowing how to use it to live well. Questions deemed philosophical are: (1) what we should do / how we should act in a certain situations and why, (2) what is real in those situations, (3) how we can or can not know what is real in those situations, (4) when we can draw a conclusion, (5) what we value, and (6) what is beautiful.
Without a specialized background or vocabulary, teachers can introduce philosophy to enrich reading in and out of the classroom. There are many great ways to introduce easily-digestible philosophical questions that students are eager to contemplate and write about. The following materials provide a few creative ways to introduce philosophy in student-friendly language.
I. Introducing Philosophy Question Clusters:
These questions are chosen, in part, because they dovetail into the essential inquiry into character, identity, purpose, and goodness -- often a thematic focus of coming-of-age young adult literature. Download the document for the full-text of each question cluster, organized by topic for overhead projection, or jigsaw expert groups. The questions cover the following:
Is There Free-Will? Or Fate?
Can We Choose Our Own Identity?
Is this Real? Or is this an illusion?
Mind? Or Body?
Mind Knowledge? Or Body Knowledge?
Dream or Reality?
Who Cares About Axiology?
Examined Life?
Can Language Give us the Truth?
You need not scare would-be readers with words like these, though. Most simply, philosophy is the love of wisdom, and wisdom is having knowledge and knowing how to use it to live well. Questions deemed philosophical are: (1) what we should do / how we should act in a certain situations and why, (2) what is real in those situations, (3) how we can or can not know what is real in those situations, (4) when we can draw a conclusion, (5) what we value, and (6) what is beautiful.
Without a specialized background or vocabulary, teachers can introduce philosophy to enrich reading in and out of the classroom. There are many great ways to introduce easily-digestible philosophical questions that students are eager to contemplate and write about. The following materials provide a few creative ways to introduce philosophy in student-friendly language.
I. Introducing Philosophy Question Clusters:
These questions are chosen, in part, because they dovetail into the essential inquiry into character, identity, purpose, and goodness -- often a thematic focus of coming-of-age young adult literature. Download the document for the full-text of each question cluster, organized by topic for overhead projection, or jigsaw expert groups. The questions cover the following:
Is There Free-Will? Or Fate?
Can We Choose Our Own Identity?
Is this Real? Or is this an illusion?
Mind? Or Body?
Mind Knowledge? Or Body Knowledge?
Dream or Reality?
Who Cares About Axiology?
Examined Life?
Can Language Give us the Truth?
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Introducing Philosophy Question Clusters.docx | |
File Size: | 19 kb |
File Type: | docx |
II. Multimedia Philosophy Write-to-Learn Prompts
These questions propel inquiry for writing and discussion (Steps 2 and 3), but they also do a great job of introducing philosophical questions and building philosophical literacy. These write-to-learn prompts work especially well at the beginning of a lesson, as a precursor to oral expression and listening or as pre-writing for writing tasks. These write-to-learns address:
Levels of Happiness
The Trolley Problem
The Importance of Friends (adapted from Worley and Levi 144)
The Golden Mean
The Ship of Theseus (adapted from Worley and Levi 86)
The Mind/Body Problem
Plato's Cave
Nagel's Bat
Floating Man (adapted from Pirsig 45)
The Transparent Eyeball
The Ring of Gyges (adapted from Worley and Levi 74)
These questions propel inquiry for writing and discussion (Steps 2 and 3), but they also do a great job of introducing philosophical questions and building philosophical literacy. These write-to-learn prompts work especially well at the beginning of a lesson, as a precursor to oral expression and listening or as pre-writing for writing tasks. These write-to-learns address:
Levels of Happiness
The Trolley Problem
The Importance of Friends (adapted from Worley and Levi 144)
The Golden Mean
The Ship of Theseus (adapted from Worley and Levi 86)
The Mind/Body Problem
Plato's Cave
Nagel's Bat
Floating Man (adapted from Pirsig 45)
The Transparent Eyeball
The Ring of Gyges (adapted from Worley and Levi 74)
![](http://www.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/rtf.png)
introducing_philosophy_write-to-learns.docx | |
File Size: | 1063 kb |
File Type: | docx |
III. "Most important word" Bookmarks assignment for Active Reading
As students read, you may ask them to find the "most important words" as a way of encouraging active reading and thinking about what matters to their character. These bookmark assignments build literacy while asking students to provide textual support for why thier chosen words are important. Here is the handout I give students:
As students read, you may ask them to find the "most important words" as a way of encouraging active reading and thinking about what matters to their character. These bookmark assignments build literacy while asking students to provide textual support for why thier chosen words are important. Here is the handout I give students:
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Introducing Philosophy Most Important Word Bookmarks Directions.docx | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |
IV. Philosophical Character Map
This handout provides a handout for students to note textual evidence for what their character believes, feels, and does. The handout raises the question of what the author's purpose is in describing the character the way that they do. (This is a downloadable version of the image at the top of this page).
This handout provides a handout for students to note textual evidence for what their character believes, feels, and does. The handout raises the question of what the author's purpose is in describing the character the way that they do. (This is a downloadable version of the image at the top of this page).
![](http://www.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/rtf.png)
Introducing Philosophy Character Map.docx | |
File Size: | 193 kb |
File Type: | docx |
V. The Good Life Activity
This handout gives students the chance to write responses whether or not they agree with various conceptions of "the good life" throughout world culture and history. The prompts are:
This handout gives students the chance to write responses whether or not they agree with various conceptions of "the good life" throughout world culture and history. The prompts are:
- The Good Life as VIRTUOUS ACTIVITY (Ancient Greece)
- The Good Life as SOCIAL CONTRACT (17th Century England)
- The Good Life as A MEANS-TO-AN-END (19th Century England)
- The Good Life as GOOD INTENTIONS 19th Century Germany)
- The Good Life as GOOD SOCIETY (Ancient China)
- The Good Life as HARMONY WITH NATURE (Ancient China/Native Americas)
- The Good Life as PERFORMING YOUR DUTY(India)
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Introducing Philosophy What Is The Good Life.docx | |
File Size: | 19 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Looking forward to Step 2: Philosophical Inquiry
Once students are familiar with some basic philosophical questions, they are ready to take a more active role in the process of generating philosophical questions. Next, Step Two - Philosophical Inquiry - sets up some easy guidelines that help students generate genuine philosophical questions from the study of literature.