Wondering Aloud: Philosophy With Young People
Leo Lionni wrote, who died in 1999, wrote and illustrated many classic children’s books. I’ve used several of his books to inspire pre-college philosophy discussions. One that is particularly helpful for introducing questions of political and social philosophy is Frederick, the story of a family of five field mice who are gathering food for the winter. […]
I’m working on a review article for the journal Teaching Philosophy, writing about five books that have been written in the past few years about pre-college philosophy. In the course of reading these books, it’s been interesting to me to observe the range of views about the level of training necessary for a competent pre-college […]
I read an interesting article this week by Tamar Schapiro on “What Is a Child?” In a discussion about the possible justifications for what we generally believe are adults’ special obligations to children, for “treating someone like a child,” Schapiro (looking to Kant) suggests an understanding of the word ‘child’ as a status concept. The […]
Jana Mohr Lone is the director and founder of the University of Washington Center for Philosophy for Children, an academic research center dedicated to research and practice in philosophy for children and philosophy of childhood, and she is an Affiliate Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington. Jana is the author of Seen and Not Heard (2021) and The Philosophical Child (2012). She co-authored the textbook Philosophy in Education: Questioning and Dialogue in Schools (2016) and co-edited the collection of essays Philosophy and Education: Introducing Philosophy to Young People (2012). Since 1995 she has taught philosophy in classrooms from preschool to college and beyond. A frequent writer and speaker about precollege philosophy, Jana is the founding president of PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization) and the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Questions: Philosophy for Young People. Follow her on Twitter: @JanaMohrLone