Stephen asked:

I'm looking for a good way to introduce philosophy to children. I have 3 younger siblings, aged 7, 9
and 12, who are very inquisitive, and wanted to know what I was learning when I was taking my
philosophy course, but unfortunately found the subject simply confusing when I attempted to explain it
to them!

I've read Sophie's Worldmyself, but can't see them reading it themselves, and I think it would be
better to introduce the subject to them in bitesize chunks, and on more contemporary issues, rather
than elaborating on its history as that book does (which, although perhaps a necessary approach for
scholars, is likely to bore young children!).

Does anyone know of any basic introductory books to the subject for children of those ages? Or,
preferably, simply some clues as to how to get started? I particularly want to teach my siblings how to
be open-minded and to think for themselves (although perhaps not too rebelliously!), as well as to
appreciate (and understand) other worldviews, and it seems a bit of philosophy would be fairly good
in that department.

Unfortunately, my family (the adults in particular, besides me that is) seem generally not interested in
thinking philosophically, and tend towards blindly accepting black-and-white views of the world (or
perhaps just get into lazy thinking habits!). The kids are naturally curious about the world, however
philosophy is unfortunately not a subject on the school curriculum.

So, any ideas how to approach the subject with them?

============

If you look at the Pathways site you will find a link to SAPERE.net which provides a guide to teaching
philosophy to children. In Download free e-texts you will also find the Continental Community for
Inquiry which is being successfully used in Australia for teenagers in school and you could probably
make use of this — there is an introduction on how to go about using the chapters, each of which is
thought provoking. You can also look at the papers which are printed on Pathways and see that
Katharine Hunt is also interested in teaching children.

>From experience, I have found that only some people are interested in philosophy. The desire to
think philosophically seems to be a sort of disposition some people have, like a disposition to religion
or science, and I'm not sure it should be imposed. Perhaps the curiosity of your siblings isn't a
philosophical curiosity.

So, good luck.

Rachel Browne

I think the best approach to teaching children to think philosophically is to start with getting them to
think logically and enjoy using deductive skills. A truly great book is Symbolic Logicby the Reverend
Dodgson (Lewis Carroll, to you and me). I hope it is still in print because it is full of logic puzzles that
would appeal to the age range you mentioned.

Kim Boley

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