Dr. John Taylor is the head
of Philosophy and Director of Critical Skills, Rugby School, UK; Visiting
Fellow, London Institute of Education
What
is the place of philosophy within education? Many teachers would answer that it
has little or nothing to do with their daily task, which they would conceive of
as the handing on of subject knowledge to the next generation. Of course,
philosophy is one of the subjects that may be taught, but outside of this
(usually relatively small) part of the curriculum, philosophy tends to be
regarded as relatively insignificant. Teachers may encounter it through the
occasional seminar in the ‘philosophy of education’ during their training, but
the theories encountered here may seem to be ones that can be forgotten without
any real loss.
To suggest, then, that philosophy is
not simply an optional extra subject on the curriculum, but is in fact integral
to all of education, will strike many teachers as absurd. But if we consider
that philosophy addresses itself, through epistemology, to questions about the
foundations of knowledge, and through conceptual analysis, to questions about
the meaning of what is claimed as knowledge, the link becomes clear. At any
point when we invite students to consider the basis of what they believe, or
ask them about the meaning of an abstract idea which they have used, we are
asking them to engage in philosophical inquiry. This can happen without the
teacher (or student) being fully aware of the fact that they are engaging in
philosophy, but the fact remains that whenever questions are asked which take
us beyond the facts, to consider their epistemological basis or meaning, then
the discussion takes on a philosophical character. Such discussions, far from
being an optional extra, should be happening right across the curriculum, as
part of the process of encouraging students to think more deeply, and in a more
engaged, critically reflective manner, about the character of what they are
being taught.
In recent years, I have been
exploring avenues for helping students and teachers engage in this form of
philosophical inquiry. Whilst I support the inclusion of philosophy as a
discrete subject on the curriculum, I have been particularly interested in
finding ways in which philosophical thought can be entered into in relation to
all the subjects which form the existing curriculum. What are the best ways of
starting philosophical discussion with science, languages or arts students? And
how, once such discussions begin, can they be continued so as to enable
deepening philosophical understanding?
My preferred model is to use a
combination of seminar-style discussions, in which the teacher acts as a
facilitator, or ‘Socratic mentor’, followed by an extended period of project
work, in which students choose for themselves a research question which allows
them to explore some of the conceptual issues surrounding a topic which they
have learned about during their studies. This combination, of discussion and
project work, is a fruitful one. Discussion provides a very natural environment
for the development of the cognitive and critical thinking skills which
philosophical investigation calls for. Project work provides an excellent
context for the further development of these skills, particularly if students
are encouraged to choose questions in which there is a clear philosophical issue
in the background.
Education, conceived of along these
lines, is an intrinsically philosophical process. In my view, it is no
coincidence that the ancient Greeks, whose thought gave birth to the
philosophical tradition of the West, were all teachers. Philosophy and teaching
coincide in their purpose: they both aim at enabling a deepening of our
understanding of the world, of ourselves, and of the endlessly puzzling
relationship between self and world.
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