Resources for philosophy discussions
The LIPMAN P4C texts
Elfie, Kio and Gus, Pixie, Harry, Lisa, Suki, Mark.
The stories in Philosophy for Children are designed to stimulate inquiry in the classroom by inviting students to identify and reflect on a broad range of philosophical problems and questions.
Each story centres around the ideas, discussions and activities of a group of fictional children who are attempting, in their own ways, to make sense of the world.
The stories themselves provide a model of 'thinking about thinking.' Their characters inquire into such topics as: truth, goodness, freedom, rules, laws, rights and duties, reasons and criteria, on being a person, art and beauty.
The accompanying teacher manuals identify and apply many leading philosophical ideas, each introduced with a brief discussion designed to provide some background to the cluster of concepts related to it. The manual then proceeds to raise a structured series of open-ended questions and activities aimed at stimulating reflective dialogue.
The novels in more detail:
Written to introduce young children to the notion of inquiry-based learning, Elfie helps children to recognise and explore the complexity of their experience and to question the seemingly unproblematic aspects of the world and the language they use to talk about it.
Issues which arise include the difference between appearance and reality, parts and wholes, permanence and change, and change and growth.
A primary school level novel designed to assist students in their thinking and reasoning about nature. Its central characters - one of whom is blind - engage in spirited conversation about animals, people and things in the world as they perceive it. The focus is the relationship of human beings to the natural world, and to those concepts (space, time, beauty, creativity, life growth, change...) by means of which we come to understand and appreciate it. Kio and Gus introduces students to some of the basic concepts of the study of science and the environment
A primary school level novel which focuses on language and the importance of relationships (logical, referential, social, familial, analogical, causal, mathematical) in the way children make sense of the world. Its central character puzzles over and questions many of the day-to-day issues which adults take for granted, but which children find endlessly fascinating.
An upper primary/junior secondary level novel which focuses on the development of basic logic and reasoning skills within the context of ordinary language. Its central characters develop their own community of inquiry, bringing together different perspectives and ways of thinking. The dialogue raises philosophical questions like: 'Should we always follow the majority?', 'What makes something beautiful?', 'Are dreams real?', and Can I really know what another person is thinking?'. Harry deals with the criteria and principles which underlie good thinking in all subject areas and disciplines.
A secondary school level novel which examines the fundamental concepts required for autonomous thinking about moral issues. Lisa provides opportunities for students to reflect on the ethical dimensions of their behaviour, and to examine the rules, criteria and procedures which underlie it.
The story focuses on a range of moral predicaments, raised by such questions as: 'Can we both love animals and eat them?', 'What is the difference between right and fair?', 'Is their such a thing as genuine equality?', and 'What is the relationship between what we believe and what we do?'.
A secondary school level novel which focuses on philosophical issues concerning literature and art, including: language and meaning in literature; the concept of "good" art; aesthetic inquiry; craft and art; nature, life and death; art and experience; creativity.
Suki provides an opportunity for students to reflect on the aesthetic quality of their own experience.
A secondary school level novel which examines the conceptual foundations of the social sciences. After Mark is arrested and accused of vandalism, he and his friends set out to evaluate the social institutions, rules and values which affect their lives. They pay particular attention to the nature of law and crime, the problems of authority, responsibility and power, and the concepts of democracy, freedom and justice.
The novel sets out to identify selected root issues in the social sciences and expose students to the conflicting concepts at the heart of each issue.
[This material is extracted from the 1996 Catalogue of Educational Resources, at the Australian Council for Educational Research, who publish and distribute the P4C novels. Information on ordering novels and accompanying Teacher Handbooks can be obtained by emailing ACER Customer Service.
Details of publication within the USA may be obtained by contacting Ann Margaret Sharp, at the Institute for the
Advancement of Philosophy for Children. Phone (201)655-7175 ]