The Philosophy Foundation

The Philosophy Shop- Ideas, activities and questions to get people, young and old, thinking philosophically

Peter Worley

• Publisher: Independent Thinking Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781781350492
• eBook ISBN: 9781781350614
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Teaching Methods

Imagine a one-stop shop stacked to the rafters with everything you could ever want to tap into young people's natural curiosity and get them thinking deeply. Well, this is it! Edited by professional philosopher Peter Worley from The Philosophy Shop and with a foreword by Ian Gilbert, this book is jam-packed with ideas, stimuli, thought experiments, activities, short stories, pictures and questions to get young people thinking philosophically. Primarily aimed at teachers to use as a stimuli for philosophical enquiries in the classroom or even as starter activities to get them thinking from the off, it can also be used by parents for some great family thinking or indeed anyone fed up of being told what to think (or urged not to think) and who wants a real neurological workout. The proceeds of the book are going towards The Philosophy Foundation charity.

The Shop Part I

Metaphysics or What There Is

Metaphysics: Ontology (or Existence)

A Knife Idea
Peter Worley

Starting age: 10 years

A caveman called Ug has recently found a mammoth that has died naturally and so doesn’t have the characteristic puncture wounds that sabre-toothed tigers leave. Winter is drawing near. He needs the skins and the meat but is unable to cut the mammoth open because knives haven’t been invented yet.

Later that day whilst Ug is collecting stones to make a fire – fire-making has been invented! – he cuts himself on a sharp rock (a rock we now call ‘flint’). This gives him an idea: he takes the sharp-edged rock and uses it to cut open the mammoth. This enables him to get to the meat and, with the help of his new tool, to remove the skin.

The following day he uses another harder type of rock to chisel the flint into a shape that has one very sharp side making his new tool even more efficient. With his new tool he is able to make himself all sorts of other things – as yet uninvented – such as bowls, a stool and a table. Later he learns how to make more of his cutting tools, which he uses either to replace them when they break or to exchange with other cavemen for goods. Soon all of his tribe has the new tool and they give it the name ‘knife’.

Start Question When did the object become a knife?

Think about the Start Question before looking at the suggestions below.

Was it…

1. When the rock he would make it from was lying on the ground?

2. When he cut himself on the rock?

3. When he had the idea?

4. When he chiselled it into shape?

5. When he first used it?

6. When it was first given the name ‘knife’?

7. Or at some other time? If so, when and why?

Questions to take you further

When does something become what it is?

What exactly is a knife? Can you define a knife?

Is Ug’s tool a knife or not?

Does a knife have to be a certain shape?

If ‘the knife’,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Contents
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• The Shop Part I: Metaphysics or What There Is
• The Shop Part II: Epistemology or What Can Be Known About What There Is
• The Shop Part III: Value or What Matters In What There Is
• The Shop Part IV: Language and Meaning or What Can Be Said About What There Is
• Further Reading
• About the Authors
• Copyright