The Examined Life

Advanced Philosophy for Kids (Grades 7-12)

David A. White

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000489583
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation générale

In this book, the follow-up to the best-selling Philosophy for Kids, Dr. David White delves deeper into the philosophical questions kids (and adults) care about deeply. Through vibrant discussions and debate, the book offers ways teachers can help students grapple with age-old questions about the nature of friendship (Aristotle), time (Augustine), knowledge (Plato), existence of God (Aquinas), perception (Berkeley), freedom and society (Rousseau), and many more.The book is divided into three sections. Part 1 presents primary source readings that will encourage discussion and debate; Part 2 offers easy-to-use activities that focus on the direct application of philosophy to areas such as critical thinking, language, and the arts; and Part 3 offers a unique perspective just for teachers—a philosophical look at how teachers can become more reflective philosophers themselves. This is an excellent teachers' handbook for using advanced philosophy in the classroom.Grades 7-12

PART 1
Kids and Philosophy₆

DOI: 10.4324/9781003238782-2

INTRODUCTION
Young Students and the Adventure of Philosophy

DOI: 10.4324/9781003238782-3

"I wonder ..." According to the ancient Greeks, philosophy—the love of wisdom—begins in wonder. It is frequently observed in this regard that young students are exceptionally curious, wondering about many things. Once this natural sense of wonder has been introduced to the issues philosophers find fascinating and vital, young people may well be in a position to expand that wonder into the kind of interest—perhaps even the kind of love—that drives the impetus to know about things in a philosophical sense. One wonders then . . . would kids like philosophy? Indeed, would they not only like it, but also be good at it? Based on my own personal experience, the answer to both questions is a resounding "Yes!"

This introductory discussion describes some of the general features of philosophy that are especially pertinent to gifted education and offers strategies to the interested educator (and parent) for incorporating philosophy into more traditional curricula for the gifted, as well as for any group of students intrigued by the fundamental resonance of interacting with philosophical issues.

Questions arise immediately: What is the value of studying philosophy? Which philosophers should be read? And how should they be read?

Reasons to Study Philosophy

Philosophy is valuable for a number of reasons. Young students know about mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, foreign languages, and other traditional academic disciplines. But, although they have doubtless heard the word philosophy, it is unlikely that they have had an opportunity to read, study, and discuss examples of a philosopher's work in anything like a formal setting. Such study will make the student aware of this important way in which human beings have attempted to understand themselves and their place in the general scheme of things. For these students, philosophy can then become another element in the set of educational instruments with which they construct their own personal approach to dealing with the opportunities and problems of life. The following areas are especially fertile territory for realizing the relevance of philosophy:

A. Critical Thinking

The intellectual processes involved in understanding philosophical concepts and positions enhance the student's ability to think critically. To study philosophy properly requires skill in formulating ideas, recognizing conclusions of arguments, and assessing the strength of the reasoning that leads to those conclusions. Furthermore, a degree of adeptness in any or all of these areas is readily carried over from the analysis of philosophical issues proper to different, but related forms of thoughtful literary expression. Although history, novels, and poetry are not read in the same way as philosophy, the intellectual patterns and habits that are formed when grasping and analyzing philosophical issues will assist the student in many other forms of reading and writing. (Note thatChapter 11 develops an especially imaginative approach to critical thinking.)

B. Cultural Differences

Philosophers from all cultures have made contributions to the stock of human wisdom. It is a commonplace that our world is shrinking in the sense that advances in technology have virtually nullified spatial and temporal distances. The long-range effects of such technologies are unknown; however, it remains true that the world as a whole still contains many diverse cultural attitudes and practices, some of which are viewed with distrust or dismay. The more experience young people have in confronting different beliefs and attitudes while they are still young, the more likely they are to be receptive to understanding and accept such differences and not react to them in irrational, hurtful, and destructive ways.

C. Practical Applications

Philosophy affects life in that it affords us the opportunity not only to learn in an abstract way what great minds have offered us, but also to apply what we have learned to the practical matter of living. In one obvious sense, philosophy is theoretical in that it is written in books and developed, as a rule, according to strict logical procedures. But, theory is itself part of life, and the theoretical dimension is only the threshold to the reality of philosophy when its conclusions are put into practice during the helter-skelter business of life as it is actually lived. In this regard then, philosophy is not just an isolated body of knowledge devoted to expounding wispy esoterica; rather, it is a reservoir containing sustenance of considerable value for those who allow its teachings to be understood and then to be acted upon—with courage when necessary—as the problems and decisions that define our lives are being resolved.

The first practical advantage is that the study of philosophy instills in the student a greater tolerance for views that differ from his or her own, especially on matters of fundamental importance. Students of philosophy are continually confronting beliefs and conclusions that run in direct opposition to their own personal convictions. The concerned and caring individual will attempt to understand the other viewpoint, discuss that viewpoint if possible, and, if nothing better can be secured, agree to disagree and attempt to resolve the issue at another time.

The second advantage is more personal and perhaps, in the final analysis, even more valuable. To reflect about the issues of philosophy is ultimately to reflect about oneself—what do I think about this question, about that problem, about those concepts? Thus the young student becomes more self-aware about matters that are vitally important to everyone. This enhanced degree of self-knowledge can only contribute to the student's ability to grow and mature, not only in academic settings, but also in every department of life.

Elements of Philosophy

The nature of philosophy is itself a philosophical question, since philosophers—unlike, say, mathematicians or natural scientists—have disputed among themselves, sometimes with great vigor and heat, as to the purposes and methods of their discipline. Despite this sporadic history of foundational disagreement, it may be affirmed that if philosophy is understood to encompass a series of significant figures from the Greeks to the present, the following list of elements may safely be said to characterize its basic structure:

A. Concepts

Philosophers describe and analyze ideas or concepts that are basic to human experience—happiness, virtue, knowledge, time, matter, causality, goodness, freedom, purpose, beauty. Indeed, the list of viable philosophical topics is coextensive with the concerns of the human condition.

B. Distinctions

Since these concepts are so general, it is essential to draw distinctions in their elaboration in order to make our understanding of these concepts more accessible and more accurate.

C. Definitions

The goal of the philosopher is, as a rule, to establish a definition of a concept: a clearly described and comprehensive set of conditions that will fully explain that concept by covering all relevant circumstances. Needless to say, if the concepts under analysis are general and also the subject of dispute—which is nearly always the case—it will be difficult to secure a definition that will command consensus.

D. Reasoning

The standard method for producing definitions is reasoning, which for present purposes may be described as the movement in thought from certain basic beliefs or facts (premises) to certain other claims (conclusions) that follow from these premises according to the rules of logic. It is true that not all philosophers proceed in this formally regulated way (e.g., Confucius, Francis Bacon, Nietzsche), but it is also true that so many philosophers do use this approach that it is not inappropriate to offer it as one of the basic elements of the discipline.

Primary Source Philosophy

Which philosophers should be read? Here again there will be differences of opinion among professional students of the discipline. For me, it is safe to say that, even if one is thoroughly convinced of the extreme view that the history of philosophy has systematically distorted our understanding of and our place in reality, it remains essential to know something about that history in order to be in a position to recognize these errors. Thus, there are philosophers who simply must be read, starting with Plato and Aristotle and including a number of seminal figures throughout the history of thought until we come to the 20th century—at which juncture the student has a veritable smorgasbord of philosophical fare from which to select.

How then should the thought of these philosophers be approached? My own work with gifted students has been based exclusively on primary sources, although usually in excerpted form. The main advantage of primary sources is that the student has the opportunity to meet philosophers firsthand as they actually thought and wrote, rather than as filtered through a contemporary interpreter who has attempted to paraphrase, condense, and perhaps "simplify" that thought for those who may not be well-versed in the sometimes intricate byways of philosophy. In the example of Aristotle to be discussed first, the passages included are only excerpts—a format that should be employed with certain precautions in mind. Thus, anyone working through these passages should reserve final judgment as to his or her impressions of Aristotle (or, of course, any philosopher) until the entire work has been examined with care. It is fair to add, however, that the treatment of these passages, even though excerpted, will respect the discipline of philosophy as it has been practiced by the primary exemplars of that discipline (e.g., Aristotle and all other philosophers featured in Part I).

The Readings—Principles of Selection and Organization

1. The 10 readings in Part I are all primary source selections. These readings have been chosen because they satisfy the following requirements:
   1. All are classical issues and questions drawn from the history of philosophy, Plato to the present.
   2. The topics are of concern in various ways to students from grades 4 through high school.
   3. The readings, although brief, represent a unified, comprehensive philosophical position. Students who work through a complete reading will experience in a forceful way the challenge and satisfaction of confronting a philosophical text and mastering the main purpose of that text.
   4. Each reading appears on a single page (for ease of reproduction and use in a classroom setting). The passages constituting each reading are quoted verbatim, with the exception of occasional ellipses and brief interpolations, indicated by brackets, for the sake of clarity and to establish transitions.
2. Each reading consists of a series of numbered passages. It is important to realize that these numbers are not those of the philosopher and are not in the original source. The numbers divide the text to facilitate discussion. Each numbered text corresponds to a discussion of that text with the same number; this discussion appears in the commentary section immediately following the reading.
3. The numbered sections in the commentary accomplish various ends, depending on the purpose of the reading, as well as the specific function of each passage. The commentary may (a) define unusual or technical terms; (b) explain theoretical positions, if necessary; (c) suggest questions to pose in order to initiate discussion of key points made in a given passage; or (d) note anticipated responses as based on my experience presenting these readings to diverse younger audiences.
4. The sequence of readings is arranged in approximate historical order, although punctuated with several exceptions. First, the reading on Aristotle precedes that on Plato (which reverses the actual historical order, since Aristotle was Plato's student)—the reason: the topic, friendship, is one of the most important to young people and serves as an especially penetrating introduction to philosophical thinking. The second historical anomaly is that the reading on determining the nature of time by Augustine comes second (rather than third, after Plato and Aristotle) because the content of this topic is suitably abstract as an introduction to more of this kind of thinking to come later. Finally, the reading that concludes the set in Part I—by Martin Heidegger (who died in 1976) on technology—occurs at the end since it may be argued that this topic, with its potentially apocalyptic overtones, supercedes in importance all the topics that precede it.
5. A teacher or presenter is, of course, free to select a given reading for a particular purpose, regardless of where that reading occurs in the sequence. In addition, the current sequence can also be reorganized to suit a teacher's curricular interests and opportunities. It may be observed, however, that if the sequence is followed according to the order deployed in the book, then the student will gain some sense for the historical flow that is so crucial to philosophy in its almost 3,000-year existence.
6. The analysis of the topics offered by the 10 readings can be integrated with humanities, social studies, or language arts courses that include components on critical thinking. And, in general, philosophy can be integrated with virtually all standard disciplines—science, mathematics, literature, social studies, and art. Specific suggestions for such curricular integration are, when relevant, included toward the conclusion of the commentary sections for the readings.
7. Most of the 10 readings in Part I include links for accessing the complete texts for these readings. Some translations of the complete texts differ from those appearing in the readings, but the differences are minor and readily recognized. Anyone interested in pursuing topics outlined in these readings is invited to explore the entire work. For example, the first reading, on friendship from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, includes a link to the online text of this classic work. A prospective philosopher entering a thoughtful analysis of friendship and watching Aristotle develop that concept in context quickly discovers that friendship is connected to a number of equally important concepts. To pursue these connections is challenging, rewarding, and enjoyable.

Some Ideas on Presenting or Teaching Philosophy

The following points present a few general guidelines for presenting philosophy to younger students:

1. As noted in the general introduction, no specialized background in philosophy is required in order to present the r...