Thinking Education through

Philosophy

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea

Grant funded by the Korean Government

Thinking Education through
Philosophy

Published by

The Korean Academ y of Teaching Philosophy In School

Editors

Lee Cho-Sik, Korea University

Park Jin-Whan, Gyeongsang National University

Editorial Assistants

Melany Natividad, Olga Rogachova

Kim Tack-Shin, Sin Won-Woo

Im Il- Yul

Design by

Lee Seung-Keun

Copyright @ 2012

All rights reserved. N o part o f this volum e m ay be reproduced in any form or by any means,

except for b rief quotations, w ithout written perm ission from the Korean Academ y o f Teaching

Philosophy in School.

ISBN

978-89-965862-1-0
Preface

These books were published after the 15th International Council of

Philosophical Inquiry with Children conference held in July 2011, jointly
hosted by Korean Academy of Teaching Philosophy in School and Gyeongsang
University. The theme of the conference being thinking, ethics and
multicultural education through philosophy, Book 1 dealt with education on
thinking and Book 2 addressed ethics and multicultural education. These
publications are also in memory of the founders of the Council, Professor
Matthew Lipman and Professor Ann Margaret Sharp who passed away before
the conference. Book 1 is about the theory and practice of teaching how to
think and their evaluation. The topics in Book 2 are also closely related to the
education on thinking and the theory and practice of ethics and multicultural
education as well as their evaluation were addressed in Book 2.

The books begin with a fundamental question about the activities performed at
school in the name of education. The foundation stone of education is
philosophy. When the ways of life change, the foundation changes, and
therefore the education must change as well. With the start of the 21st century,
education philosophy has experienced revolutionary changes and countries
around the world have exerted efforts to reform the educational curricula to
meet the demand of such changes. The philosophical movement for children is
one of the most effective and ideal educational movement to search for the new
methodology based on the new philosophy in some 60 countries across the
world. The 15th international conference held in Korea was under the theme of
thinking, ethics and multicultural education through philosophy, participated by
the world’s most renowned professors, scholars and teachers presented 125
dissertations. Moreover, a workshop for teachers and parents and the
philosophy camp for students were held to provide the new direction in
education. The conference was met with keen media attention as well as
enthusiasm of the teachers and parents. The advice and suggestions obtained
from the conference were invaluable and memorable.

As to what is philosophy education movement for children, the readers will be

able to grasp the overall concept. The classic approach to education is that it
delivers knowledge, the underlying idea of which is a narrow sense of
rationalism. However, rationalism has been the subject of criticism. Many
alternatives have been explored at various angles but the education philosophy
and teaching methodology system has not been improved in most cases. The
movement presents the general alternatives on, such as education philosophy,
methodology and curriculum, and its worth has been proven on many
occasions. There is general consensus on this revolutionary movement, that
schools should pursue reasonable ideas based on extensive grounds, not on a
narrow sense of rationalism, which need to be explored at the community level,
not at an individual level. It is shown that the philosophical inquiry by the
community can be applied to all curricula.

If Socrates is one of the greatest revolutionaries in western philosophy,

Matthew Lipman and Ann Sharp can be said to be his equal in the arena of
philosophy education. In this world where more focus is given to economy and
technology education, the philosophy movement for children has profound
implications. The contributing authors provide easy-to-understand explanations
on philosophy education, the theory and practice of which may sometimes be
too overwhelming. It may not seem easy to incorporate philosophy to each
field, but the authors take the readers through diverse examples in science,
math and other areas.

Book 2, with a focus on ethics and multicultural education, shows the

difference between the existing practice of ethics and multicultural education
based on narrow rationalism and ethics and multicultural education based on
extensive rationalism. At the same time, it also talks about how exploring at the
community level is related to ethics and multicultural education. The book
presents examples of practice from different nations in Asia, Africa, Europe,
Russia, Iran and more. These will be greatly useful to educators, who will
appreciate the rich diversity as the approaches taken in the book reflect the
cultural diversity.

The topics in the books are in the order of theory, practice and evaluation. Of
course, there were those that were rather vague in terms of such categorization.
While there seems to be no direct relationship with the children’s philosophy
education movement, it is worth noting that cultural translation in the field of
eastern philosophy is one of the major issues, as diverse cultures need to be
translated in a common language for better understanding.

The articles at the end of each book were written in memory of the founders;
Book 1 for Professor Matthew Lipman by Professor David Kennedy and Book
2 for Professor Ann Margaret Sharp by Professor Laurance Splitter. Finally, I
would like to express my appreciation to everyone who contributed to
completing this publication and special thanks to the National Research
Foundation of Korea for the financial support.
Park Jin-Whan, Ph.D
 CONTENTS
Philosophical Practice and the Reform of Education: a Lipman’s Essay
/Antonio Cosentino, CRIF-The Italian Centre o f P4C 3

John Dewey’s Children

/ Zosimo Lee, University o f the Philippines 20

All That is Inquiring is Communal and All that is Communal is Inquiring

With Peirce Beyond Peirce: Lipman’s Community of Inquiry
/ Stefano Oliverio, University o f Naples Federico II 30

Some Notes Towards a Political Childhood for Educational Philosophy

/ Walter Omar Kohan, State University o f Rio de Janeiro 45

Conceptual Development Through Dialogue: A Vygotskian Account

/ Nadia Stoyanova Kennedy, State University o f New York 58

Children’s Thinking Styles in Philosophy Class - Empirical and Didactical

Studies
/ Peter Gansen, University o f Koblenz-Landau 74

On Seo-hak Paradox:A Case Study on Reasonable Thinking of Translation

/ Cho Sik Lee, Korea University 89

What Teaching Practices for a Successful Orientation of the Self ?

/ Francesca Pulvirenti, Alessandra Tigano, University o f Catania
98

Dialogic Philosophy in Practice of Teacher Education: Classroom and

Organizational Dialogue
/ Arie Kizel, University o f Haifa 127
Using ‘Harry’ to Foster Critical Thinking: An Exploratory Study in Hong
Kong
/ Chi-Ming Lam, The Hong Kong Institute o f Education 151

Comparative Studies About Two Approaches to Developing Rational

Thinking: Lipman’s Approach as “Philosophy for Children” and Ellis’s
Approach as “Rational, Emotional, Behavioral Theory”
/ Mehrnoosh Hedayati, Institute o f Humanities and Cultural Studies
175

What Are Children Capable Of?

/ Rosana Aparecida Fernandes, Fabricia Teixeira Borges, Universidade
Tiradentes 190

Teaching Philosophy for Critical Thinking: Some Pedagogical Motivations

for Future Considerations
/ Melany Natividad, Saint Louis University 203

The Variety of Schools of Philosophy for Children in France and in

Philolab
/ Nathalie Frieden, Université de Fribourg 217

Community of Inquiry in the Kindergarten Classroom

/ Seon Hee Jo, International University o f Korea 228

From Outer Space and Across the Street: Matthew Lipman’s Double
Vision
/ David Kennedy, Montclair State University 243
 What Teaching Practices for a Successful Orientation of the Self?

Francesca Pulvirenti, Alessandra Tigano

University of Catania

Summary

In line with the 2007 National Guidelines (D.M. 31 July 2007) and with
the National and Sicilian Regional Orientation Plan, the research hypothesis -
that supports the design of the workshops presented below - moves in a double
direction: 1. To promote innovative educational practices able to guide primary
school and university students’ personal itineraries, 2. To renew teachers’
didactic discipline, guiding it towards a holistic, constructive and complex
logic of philosophizing. In the national and regional documents mentioned
above, guidance is intended as a learning process aimed at building tools for
thought that can educate the person to self-care and attachment. This means to
pursue the following educational objectives: - cultivating the skills to educate
and know how to think, knowing how to reflect in order to understand the
world; acquiring metacognitive emancipating tools of thought; guiding
personal choices in pursuing welfare and happiness.
In the light of these premises the theoretical and empirical framework of
the educational workshop activities experimented, is supported by recent
pedagogical discussions on the formation identities in the age of sad passions
(Baumann) and uncertainty (L. Fabbri and B. Rossi, 2010).
Bearing in mind this theoretical background, the following questions
were raised, guiding the research:

1. How to find one’s way in a social context characterized by an

instability that generates biographies in perpetual transition?
2. What training tools can be put in place to support a person’s
planning skills?
3. How to educate a person to be able to manage these changes,
in view of a satisfactory self-realization and the promotion of social
 welfare?

Starting from these questions, we intend orientation as a need to learn

new modalities, that is, as a process o f lifelong learning, o f reflection and

transformation o f the self. Therefore, in order to promote the formation of an

open consciousness, driven towards the postmodern paradigm o f complexity

(J.F. Lyotard, E. Morin) we decided to use the curriculum o f Philosophy for

Children developed by M. Lipman that is sustained by the socio-constructivist

epistemology o f the research community.

Lipman’s program is here meant as a theoretical and practical model of

orientation o f the self in a dialogical, complex community dimension. The

learning outcomes of the action-research are qualitative and are the result of
two workshop paths: - Playing at philosophizing: a compass fo r orientation,

with primary school children, The Philosophy fo r children: a practical

approach to narrative orientation, with university students and primary school

teachers.

The initial assumption was confirmed by the following results: the

experience o f philosophizing in the community o f research has opened new

perspectives o f meaning on the orientation process in almost all participants;
the method o f heuristic dialogue oriented pupils, students and teachers towards

the formation o f a narrative mind, able to admit that the ideas that guide

personal and planning choices may also be wrong. The interpretation o f the

practical and theoretical research results, just like the practice of

philosophizing, fits well in the processes o f orientation o f a person’s existential

projects throughout his or her life (lifelong education). In fact, through

dialogue with oneself and comparison with the others, all the subjects involved

in these courses developed their ability to reflect and turn their attention to new

horizons o f meaning and existential well-being; the practice o f philosophizing

has led children and adults to acquire new mental habitus and, through their

personal narratives and “conversation with the s e lf’ produced (Schön, 1993),

they have become aware o f elements o f research, growth and transformation of

the self.
 Key-words: orientation of the self, philosophizing, narrative and
autobiography, happiness, well-being

Theoretical Framework and Hypothesis

How to find one’s way in a social context characterized by an instability
that generates biographies in perpetual transition? What training tools can be
put in place to support a person’s planning skills? How to educate a person to
be able to manage these changes, in view of a satisfactory self-realization and
the promotion of social welfare?

Objectives
To promote innovative educational practices can act as a compass in
primary school and university students' personal itineraries; To renew teachers’
didactic discipline, guiding it towards a holistic, constructive and complex
logic of philosophizing.

Methods
Context: University and Primary School
Participants: 20 university students, two teachers and 40 Primary School
children
Materials: Pixie, Lipman 1981
Duration: 2 years

Results
The experience of philosophizing in the community of research has
opened, in almost all the participants, new perspectives on the meaning of the
orientation processes; the method of heuristic dialogue oriented pupils, students
and teachers towards the formation of a narrative and reflective mind, able to
admit that the ideas that guide personal and planning choices may also be
wrong.

Involvement, Implications and Educational Perspectives

The educational practice of philosophizing is part of the orientation
processes of a person’s existential projects. This opens perspectives for
research between orientation, philosophical practice and lifelong education.

Remarks
Do you have special questions or remarks?
Is it possible to orientate without reference to the educational model of
philosophizing? Does philosophizing affect, consciously and/or implicitly, the
experiences of orientation? Philosophizing and orientation: is this a happy
union? Orientate to philosophize and/or philosophize to orientate?
Orientation, as pointed out by many scholars, can no longer be an
independent process that adds to or complements the learning process and
learning in general, but must identify itself with this same process and must be
understood as education and training to choosing and as a continuous process.
In a social context in which flexibility and insecurity are often two sides of
same coin guiding means, in fact, to educate at managing change in freedom
and full operational responsibility, in complete decisional autonomy, promoting
the person’s design skills, in view of a satisfying self-realization.
The Philosophy for Children (P4C) of M. Lipman, sustained by the socio­
constructivist epistemology of the research community is, of course, a program
oriented towards quality; it does not aim at developing specific formal skills,
but at the promotion a complex thought, a cultural reasoning, ecological, that is
to philosophize as a vital stimulus fo r the education act. Lipman considers the
subject as an active and social agent that builds her own identity and therefore
her own thought in relation to experience and the other. Thought is co­
constructed, it should not be understood as a processor of information, but as a
connection and interaction o f bits o f experience, where emotional involvement
is essential. The P4C - Lipman writes - helps the formation o f a deep
conscience in a reasonable man who tries to build a world that makes her want
to live, not one who accepts a world in which he is obliged to live.
In our initial hypothesis, we asked: what is the role of philosophizing in
students’ guidance process? Can the P4C act place itself as theoretical and
practical model for the guidance of the self in a dialogical, argumentative,
complex and community dimension? Would it be able to accompany students
in the formation of an open conscience, oriented to the paradigm of postmodern
complexity? Is there not a strong homogeneity between philosophizing and
orientation, since both, relatively consciously and intentionally, characterize the
lives of subjects along the course of their existence? Is it possible to
philosophize without orienting? And is it possible to orientate without
philosophizing?
Therefore, in light of this premise, the works that follows, result of a
research based on reflection and discussion, tries to answer this hypothesis,
tested through two educational experiences conducted with university students
and primary school pupils.

P4C: Narrative Practice Guidance

Francesca Pulvirenti

The Workshop Experience

The workshop experience, the P4C: narrative guidance practice aims at
guiding individuals to the existential project of one’s Self, promoting, through
the practice of philosophy, the formation of a reflective and narrative mind. The
initial assumption is the learning value/reward of the orientation/philosophy
relationship.
The experience, which saw the participation of 22 university students and
a primary school teacher, close to her graduation in Education Sciences, was
conducted in collaboration with the Faculty of Education, the Department of
Training Processes of the University of Catania and the Catania Section of the
Association of Italian Educationalists (As.Pe.I.). It was divided in five
meetings, from March to April 2011, for a total of 25 hours, at the Faculty.
Warm-up exercises, philosophical sessions, circle time, theoretical moments,
narrative autobiographical reflections characterized the workshop activity.
Participants were encouraged to share their reflections on what for them held
the “value” of a guidance compass: an object, a person, music, a color, a piece
of clothing, or anything else. Participants were encouraged to seek, on the base
of their experiences and personal knowledge, keywords to conceptualize three
basic questions: What is guidance? What does philosophizing mean? What
bonds can be traced between guidance and the philosophizing? Later the
philosophical session on the mysterious creature - which had as a pretext the
same Pixie66 song chosen for the project ‘Playing at Philosophizing’: a
compass fo r guidance, conducted in primary school - allowed the research
community to “philosophize” on their own experiences of “guidance”. Finally,
these autobiographical experiences were interpreted through the search for a
metaphor: M y life and educational path is like...
The presentation of the latest scientific research on paradigms of
“guidance today” and “Lipman’s philosophizing,” centred the training program
on the analytical assessment of the narrative reflections emerged from
workshop experience, both individually and in group work. The workshop path
ended with the following guideline: In light o f your learning experience write
about your guidance path reflecting the impact and value, perhaps tacit, o f
your philosophizing (compass and metaphor) on your life and educational
choices.

66 M. Lipman, Pixie (1981), Liguori, Napoli 1999.

 The Narratives on Guidance/Philosophizing
Almost all participants chose a person as their guidance compass: the one
group chose family, boyfriend or mother, a young aunt who gives advice, a

brother or friend, a spiritual father ; others chose their intuitions, the instinct to
seek happiness, the beginning o f a new educational phase; others chose the

sea, nature; finally, there is who has not yet found a compass.
When asked to define through keyword guidance and philosophizing the

individuals involved in the experience answered as follows:

• for guidance
Family, destination / purpose / path, life / academic /
professional project, guide, lantern / light, enrich theoretical
knowledge through practice (workshop experiences), search o f a
theory / practice link, clarification o f doubt / choice / help,
overcoming o f obstacles / difficulties in personal and
professional fields in order to become autonomous, to learn new
knowledge, to not lose oneself;

• for philosophizing

Dialogue, self expression, comparison with oneself and

others, aperture towards others, reflection, sharing, thinking,
reasoning-listening, knowing (oneself), debate, reaching
provisional conclusions, critique, questioning, searching fo r new
stimuli, growth, finding points o f agreement and disagreement.

Later, through the dialogue with oneself and the comparison with the

others, the trainees were encouraged to reflect on the strong homogeneity

between philosophizing and guidance and to produce a short written narrative

on the educational gain o f the guidance/philosophizing bond, an issue that, as

several times underlined by the majority, involved them emotionally, since it

seemed to respond to their latent need to reflect on the achievement of their

own life plan.

 Guidance is linked to philosophizing, because in order to
pursue one’s goals everyone must learn to overcome obstacles
and become more independent. This can be acquired and done
through experiences based on reflection and comparison. I can
say with certainty that these actions produce in me a growth and
a deeper understanding o f myself. Throughout my life, I will
always preserve the acquired experiences as personal baggage
and keep them in mind fo r future problems. This is what S.G.
writes who, as keywords fo r guidance and philosophizing - to be
inserted at the extremes o f a four-pointed star - chose: Guide,
Pathway, Workshop Experiences, Overcoming Obstacles fo r
guidance, and Knowing Oneself, Aperture to Others, Growth,
and Reflection fo r philosophizing.

For another participant philosophizing and guidance are in a relationship

o f mutual enrichment. She considers the practice o f philosophizing as essential

in guidance path, understood as both personal and professional growth.

Only by learning to reason, to know oneself and others one

can learn to make constructive criticism and to follow the right
path to reach the one’s destinations. G. G.

Guide, Support, Pathway, Growth and Life Project, Dialogue, to Know

Oneself, to Listen are the keywords that this student writes at the extremes of
the star o f guidance and philosophizing.

for another student both philosophizing and guidance imply growth: the

former because it drives one to reflect and answer the latter because it gives

indications to make the best choices, and together they offer a considerable

educational gain.

Thinking about and discussing important topics to then

reach a valid conclusion, following an orderly path that has a
 well-established aim, is certainly more profitable than just
reasoning without guidance and vice versa. V. D. P.

The keywords chosen by V.D.P. are: Growth, Ascent, Choice, Stress, and

Help for orientation, Reflection, Ideas, Dialogue, Listening, and Conclusion for
philosophizing.

Another student - after specifying that “orientation” refers to those

activities that facilitate a subject’s ability to choose and that “philosophizing”

refers to dialogue, group discussions, and the comparison of ideas - this is how

she motivates the educational value/gains of the guidance/ philosophizing

bond:

Philosophizing, precisely because it is based on dialogue

and on listening others, allows the individual to confront the
“other” which then becomes an instrument o f guidance, support,
in order to overcome the problems and obstacles o f life. G.N.

At the extremes of a five-pointed star she wrote the following words:

Lantern / Light, Overcoming Obstacles, Autonomy, Purpose/Goal, and Support
for guidance ; Reasoning, Growth, Reflection, Dialogue, and Comparison for

philosophizing.
In the same vein, another participant - whose thought we report as a

synthesis of ideas co-constructed by the research community on the guidance/

philosophy relationship - writes:

In my opinion, the bond that develops between guidance

and philosophizing results in a very important "learning gain ",
indeed essential fo r the following reasons: philosophizing can be
a useful tool to guide us; philosophizing becomes a lantern that
illuminates our path towards a goal, by sharing our emotions,
feelings and fears with others, because, as human beings, we are
nothing without the other: the other to guides us, listens to us,
 criticizes us, compares with us, “takes our hand” and, through a
mutual dialogue, helps us choose, clarify our doubts, and
overcome difficulties and obstacles, in order to succeed in
reaching our autonomy. Therefore, the other, understood as the
person who directs and sustains us, helps us think, express
ourselves, and not get lost in the darkness o f our doubts and
difficult decisions. Philosophizing, understood as a compass that
guides us, also implies a mutual growth, a crucial enrichment
fo r the shaping o f our se lf and the achievement o f our goals and
our autonomy. T. V.

Finally, as an example, the image o f a double star, designed by SV, on the

extremes o f which the keywords show the relationships, shared by the

community, between guidance/philosophizing:

 After producing these personal reflective narratives on the relationships

between guidance/philosophizing, the research community, upon our request,

met freely in small groups to discuss and identify, through the heuristic model
o f dialogue, the guidance skills promoted by philosophizing.

The Orientifare group argues that the model o f philosophizing as a

guidance practice cannot be an occasional workshop, but should be included

within the school curriculum because it develops the following skills:

- to be astonished by all elements o f reality;

- to question oneself and others and the values o f the
community: friendship, happiness, life and death, the good
and the evil, the beautiful and the ugly, etc. ...;
 —to reflect critically and constructively;
—to open up to others and relate to one another
negotiating choices;
—to recognize one’s resources, limitations, abilities,
inclinations, desires, expectations, etc. ...;
—to achieve one’s life projects in one’s education and
profession;
—to maintain, with consistency, but also with
flexibility, o n e’s own choices.

The group Ma. Gi.Ca. identifies four types o f skills fostered by

philosophizing:
affective-emotional skills: overcoming the emotional block, recognizing
and managing emotions, cognitive skills: gaining self-awareness and awareness

of the world, developing creativity and divergent thinking, promoting problem

solving strategies, developing one’s imagination, design skills and meta­

cognition;

—relational skills: enrichment by others, development

of a sense of sharing and cooperation;
—transversal skills: overcoming egocentrism and
developing a sense of empathy (affective, cognitive and

relational), developing a critical sense (cognitive, emotional,

relational), respecting the boundaries of the other (cognitive,

relational, affective), taking care of oneself and others

(emotional, relational), developing communication skills

(emotional, relational, cognitive).

The Butterfly Liberi di pensare group, given that the goal of

philosophizing is the overall maturation/growth of the subject, outlines the

following skills:

— aperture to others, discussing, sharing experiences, listening;

— reflective skills learning to think and know;
 — skills o f interpretation: to interpret one’s thoughts and those
o f others;
- coping style skills: ability to deal with situations.

Similarly, the Luce del pensiero group, amongst the skills promoted by
philosophizing, highlights:

— communication skills: conversation, listening;

— cognitive skills: thought, reflection;
— affective-relational skills: sharing, debating.

As reflected in the metaphors chosen to characterize their own path o f life

and study, which made explicit in the final delivery, the heuristic dialogue on

guidance skills promoted by philosophizing has opened new perspectives o f

meaning in almost all participants.

“Philosophical” Reflections on the Guidance Path

The final delivery In light o f your learning experience write about your

guidance path reflecting on the impact and value, perhaps tacit, o f your
philosophizing (compass and metaphor) on the life and study design choices,
was developed individually and allowed all to philosophize, perhaps for the

first time explicitly, on one’s guidance path.

For some the guidance path was clear and linear, like a straight road, no

curves.

To date, my guidance path has been quite clear and

straightforward, because I always had clear ideas about the
choices and paths to undertake. This is why i f I were to indicate
the path o f my life and study with a metaphor, I would think it as
a straight road, no curves and obstacles.
Certainly, the security that I have had and that I have
 derives from the incidence o f those who have always supported
me and I refer firstly to my parents, my family and my boyfriend
and, secondly, to some teachers that I met during my studies ...
In my guidance path philosophizing has had a considerable
influence, thanks to dialogue, reflection, reasoning, and the
diverse questions I have always asked those who stood before
me, I was able to benefit from important support and information
that I have always needed and I still need .... According to life
path, and especially my educational one, I can confirm the thesis
according to which guidance and philosophizing are two
elements that should not be separated, because they show to be
strongly interconnected. TC T. C.

For the most part it was a diverse path: like the sun's path, sometimes

obscured by clouds, like the sky in its mutability, like the tree that gives and

receives or, like what we bring back, a boat in the sea.

I believe that the path o f study and that o f life are always
changing. One never stops learning and growing, every day new
encounters and new experiences enrich our personal baggage. I
could compare my path to a boat in the middle o f the sea,
sometimes currents carry it away, but it usually manages to trace
its own route and follow it thanks to a compass. This tool, in my
case, is represented by family, close friends, but especially by the
continuous exploration o f myself. D.D.

In one’s path there are those who cannot put themSelves at the centre and

their determination by bringing into play theirs ability to ‘content’.

The vocabulary o f synonyms to the word philosophizing

suggests: meditating, reflecting, investigating ... I would not
want to “content”, so fa r this has been the metaphor o f my life
and study path, I have always been contented, i f on the one hand
 this helped me to be resigned on the other it stuck me in a limbo,
from which I cannot escape. M. B.

For others one’s Self is a gamble that must be lived choosing the path of

an ontological research o f a genuine existential language.

This is the challenge, each one o f us has the opportunity to

open up to the world and choose whether to undergo the road o f
“they say”, or to look at the world from every angle, to
overcome prior knowledge,”Gadamerian prejudices”, in order
to become real explorers o f the world, taking the time to reflect
on existential questions and constructing from these “our book
o f life”. Grasping small gestures makes the difference between
an individual and another, each one o f us has in their heart some
footprints, it does not matter i f they are everyone’s fingerprints,
what matters is that they become assets o f their own person, and
why not, they may be in the future, in relation to others, initial
ideas fo r someone who is capable o f perceiving their essence.
C.R.

For some their own life choices are... a cake that should be tasted.
Reflecting on the guidance path o f my professional life, I
could compare my choices to a cake. O f course, not all cakes
were successful... but I would say that, thanks to the great chef
who accompanied my experiences, I was able to churn out small,
fragrant and tasty cakes. We know that each o f us has their own
likes, but to me those cakes seemed delicious! I never had to
regret an unperfected cooking or missing ingredient. I bit into
those cakes from on all edges and I always felt rewarded. A wise
and experienced, really mysterious, cook taught me to cook them.
His recipes were the best in the country, his ingredients
intertwined perfectly. They may have not been worthy o f the
finest bakeries, but they were definitely o f the type that warms up
the heart. Those who have tasted them were fascinated by them
and can still feel that unique aftertaste. I had to abandon the chef
but life is always changing, it is right now and I will have to find
new recipes, new ingredients, new mysteries. Everything has a
bigger picture than that which we see. A.M.M.

For other students their course o f direction is a slope to climb.

Personally - despite the constant guidance o f my parents

who I consider to be my “compass o f life ”, who have and will
always know how to advise me and direct me towards the right
path, trying prevent me from stumbling among the obstacles that
life places before you - 1 have always seen my life and study path
as a “slope ” to climb, very steep and so long as to seem endless
This philosophizing experience has enriched me, it has given me
the right stimulus to reflect on my path, on what I would like my
life and study plan to be; it also allowed me to realize that
insecurity, indecision, fear o f not being able to reach a goal - or
rather the top o f the steep slope that scares me - are common
feelings to many o f my peers, who are uncertain, frightened, often
insecure, like me, on what their future will be, both as women and
as professionals/educators.
I would like to conclude my discussion with a question:
“Will I, sooner or later, be able to reach the top o f this long and
steep slope?” For me the answer to this question is still a dark
mystery, which I hope to gradually manage to reveal... T.V
 This image of a “slope”, partly sunny and partly shaded, contains the

metaphors used by most members of the research community, such as “street”,

“tree”, “a nd Sun “, “clouds”. In these metaphors, it is also possible to find the

ingredients for the explicit symbolism of the “cake”, such as: successes and

failures, family and educators, differences of thought, discussion and debate,

unexpected incidents, feeling fulfilled and satisfied, the ability of self­

guidance, the surprises of life in its beauty Finally, and perhaps not

coincidentally, the slope shown above connects to the chosen university course;

it leads, in fact, to the premises o f the Faculty o f Education of Catania.

 What Were the Results?
Narrative reflections and heuristic dialogue, the compasses and the

chosen metaphors, the working sessions, the final delivery, and the educational

intervention on the analytical evaluation o f the narratives emerged during the

discussions, both individually and in group work, all show how philosophizing

fits well in the processes o f guidance o f a person’s projects throughout his life
(lifelong education). Philosophizing in a research community guides

participants towards the shaping o f a reflective and narrative mind, able to

admit that the ideas that guide our personal and design choices, may also be

wrong and that only through confrontation, dialogue, sharing, reflection can the

subject reach total maturity/growth. Nurtured by metaphors, stories and

philosophizing, narrative guidance was understood by all participants as a need

to learn new modalities, as a process o f lifelong learning, reflection and

transformation o f the self that finds its application throughout their lives.

Results have therefore confirmed the initial hypothesis. The practice of

philosophizing emerged as a very important tool that can guide students to

acquire new mental habitus and become aware, through the co-construction of

their “personal narratives” and “reflective conversations”, o f some elements of

research, growth and transformation o f the self, emphasizing the educational

value/reward o f the close connection between philosophizing and guidance.

The research community concluded the philosophical session with a question

o f meaning, inspired by Pixie: Is the self our mysterious creature? A

challenging and open question that meaningfully fits in with the development

o f a person's projectuality and with the natural need for guidance typical o f the

community and of all individuals.

f.pulvirenti@unict.it ; sandratigano@virgilio.it
 Playing at Philosophizing: a Compass for Guidance
Alessandra Tigano

The Context

This workshop experience was conducted at the Chinnici", Piazza

Armerina (Enna) during the academic years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 (III / IV

A-B classes), as part o f curricular activities67. Participants: 40 students aged 9­

10 Materials used: Pixie 68 (M. Lipman, 1981). The educational process was

conducted in line with the development o f the skills addressed by the Piano
Nazionale e Regionale Siciliano per l ’Orientamento (Sicilian and National
Plan fo r Guidance). The research hypothesis that supported the teaching
methods employed moved in two-directions:

1. Promoting philosophizing as an innovative educational

practice able to act as ‘compass’ in the personal itineraries o f primary

school students.

2. Renewing the teaching methods employed, directing them to

the holistic logic o f philosophizing.

the first area o f research show that philosophizing was tested in support

o f teaching method able to direct students’ shaping o f an autobiographical Self.

Through the reading o f Pixie pupils were questioned on a crucial question: -

What does it mean to be a mysterious creature? They then wrote illustrated
stories69 that evoke the universal archetypes o f Good and Evil. Princesses with

67 I conducted the expeience, I am responsible of the guidance services and Teacher

Educator in Philosophy for children, along with the teachers G. Purrazza e S. La
Vaccara. The school, headed by A. Rabita, is part of the Provincial network o f Guidnace
coordinated by Prof. G. Russo, Headmaster o f the first school of the network, the Liceo
Classico e Scientifico in Piazza Armerina. Other schools of the network are the
Secondary School “Roncalli-Cascino”, the Istituto Magistrale “F. Crispi”, the IPSS
“G.B. Giuliano” in Piazza Armerina and the Liceo Scientifico “P. Farinato” in Enna.

68 M. Lipman, Pixie, cit.,

69 Published in F. Furnari, A. Tigano (a cura di), Giocare a filosofare, Terre Sommerse,

Roma 2011, pp. 97-194. Available online: http://www.circolochinnici.it.
wings, dogs, flying dragons, monsters, and dinosaurs are the protagonists of the

stories that reveal the children’s concerns. Therefore, this question became an

opportunity to guide pupils’ thought to philosophize about adversities and

happiest situations of their lives. Through philosophical inquiry they had the

opportunity to think about and metabolize affective situations of personal

discomfort caused by very serious incidents. Thefollowing two examples are

stories that ‘diagnose’ situations o f disorientation: loneliness, bereavement, the

discomfort o f living in a foster home.

• My mysterious dog
He had blue crystal- coloured eyes and a beautiful thick grey fur.

It took me forever to find him a decent name; in the end I called him Rey.

My parents liked this name too. Every time I went out with the bike, I would

leave him free to run. A friend o f mine complimented me because we were

happy.

In the morning when I used to go to school, I always reluctantly said

goodbye because I didn't want to leave him. One day, during the interval,

something mysterious happened. One o f my classmates is bully and pushed me.

My dog Rey ran away from home to come and save me. He quickly ran

towards the school, he came into class and saved me. I thanked him and we

went home.

One summer day we decided to go on a trip, and another mysterious thing

happened. We went for a walk in the woods, me, Rey and a friend o f mine. We

walked away and met a pack of hungry wolves. My dog sacrificed himself to

save us. Rey fought against those ferocious wolves, but in the end they bit his

neck and he fainted. I took my dog in my arms to cure him, but unfortunately

he disappeared anyway. S.P., 9 years old.

• The Swamp Monster

Walking in the countryside I saw a swamp. Suddenly a mysterious thing

happened: a shadow that looked like a hairy monster with sharp and bleeding

teeth appeared. I got very scared because the monster looked at me and tried to
 push me into the swamp. Taken with fear I fell and fainted.

Suddenly I heard my parents’ who were looking for

me, they were scared too because they couldn’t see me any

more. I woke up, I joined them in a hurry and told them a

lie - “I was looking for my dog.” I wanted to protect them

from the swamp monster.

I wanted to keep this secret inside me because I love my parents. No one

should feel the same fear I had felt! M.M., 11 years old

These stories’ narrative reasoning is related to lived emotional

experiences. Writing short stories experiments with autobiographical and

imagery grammars that interweave revealing the deeper roots o f the primary

and fundamental experiences o f these children’s lives: those unique and

invisible roots that one would rarely share with others, but that emerge through

writing. The pedagogical experience o f narration helped unveil o f those

dimensions that reveal the inner and outer worlds of children: the desire to be

happy and take care o f oneself and one’s parents, to overcoming o f the

mechanisms that constitute a denial o f one’s well-being (feeling alone and

afraid).

Facing a guidance path, students had the opportunity to express the

subjective opacity o f their inner world and to identify constraints and resources

in their family biography. Therefore, philosophical narrative added an

important transformative value o f reassurance and anxiety reduction. The

various texts produced bring to light the real and fantasy worlds o f children and

their extraordinary capacity o f being astonished. They express variation in

emotional tone, real curiosity and astonishment. The narrative scheme o f all

stories reveals that the children thought o f the mysterious creature as p

‘ hilia’,
the friend o f all, the hero that, according to Propp70 , is capable of taking care

o f disagreements in choices, their reasons and fears.

Through a narrative-oriented philosophical style, these young

philosophers reveal the way in which they are guiding the construction of their

70 VJ. Propp, Morfologia della fiaba (1928), tr.it. a cura di G.L. Bravo, Einaudi, Torino
2000.
minds and lives, in order to become citizens o f a happy future. The

philosophical sessions and the autobiographical narrative experience proved to

be real “life education” activities. Philosophizing, understood as an attitude of

reflection and reasoning, fitted in well with the process o f personal guidance in

primary school. At this stage o f development, this can be considered a useful

teaching and relational tool to deal with the disorientation caused by growing

up and transformation. Philosophizing is, therefore, a propedeutic competence

that - maturing in the later stages - will help students decide their future with

greater emotional and cognitive awareness. The issue o f educating to 'decision­

making' in guidance processes is, in fact, a fundamental category o f human

existence since, as Heidegger reminds us, it expresses the act o f appropriating-

constituting existence. “To decide means letting oneself be awaken by the

anonymous talk to one’s most specific self,”71 therefore, the ability to

philosophize fits well in this process o f construction o f the self that, since the

early years o f primary school, shapes education to decision-making through

paths that are careful about the shaping o f an autobiographical self.

During the evaluation phase o f the workshop, children demonstrated to

have become aware o f some important elements o f the development o f the self.

Proud o f being protagonists o f the book that contains their personal “reflective

conversations”72 pupils said that for them philosophizing is 'to care when
understanding '. It means 'to tie the words, to reason in order to solve the
dilemmas around the choices to be made, to interrogate the shadows hidden in
questions, to improve self-esteem, to enter the world ofphilosophy from life, to
be happy because it helps to think new things and grow ’.
In the words o f these ‘young philosophers’ we can say that if we guide

our teaching towards philosophizing, this methodology will accompany

students' existential guidance accustoming them to decide and take personal

initiatives within the philosophical research community. But not only.

71 M. Heidegger, Essere e tempo (1927), UTET, Torino 1969, p. 441.

72 D.A. Schön, Ilprofessionista riflessivo (1983) tr.it. a cura di A. Barbanente, Dedalo,

Bari 1993, p. 9.
Philosophizing, as we shall see from the analysis of the second area of

research, also accompanies teachers’ processes of professional development,

who, between tradition and innovation, are called to reflect on their

professional style and to address the guidance processes through path that

integrate with the educational curriculum.

The second area o f research sought to renew the teaching-learning

processes of disciplinary methods. Through this learning experience, teachers

understood that guidance can emphasizes the educational aspect by focusing

attention toward a constructivist and guiding teaching practice, which is

appropriate when considering the overall design of the student’s life from

primary school. Compared to the usual guidance paths that favor information,

the originality of this project consisted in the inclusion o f guidance activities

into curricular activities. The underlying principle, developed during the

teachers' workshop, offered by the leading school o f the network for Guidance,

was as follows: the person knows herself is able to guide herself.

In light of this paradigm all teaching disciplines, if used as functional

tools, can offer a specific guiding contribution in the construction of students’

personality and in the guidance of their own existence. The challenge was

grasping the guiding aspect of each discipline, that is, to teach through

disciplines in order to employ each teachers’ knowledge. Carried out within the
curriculum, the project “Playing at philosophizing: a compass fo r guidance ”,

was used to implement an effective collegiality that sought to clarify the

guidance value of the disciplines.

Fundamental areas were established and the different disciplines where

selected. This process also included philosophical sessions ( What does

transforming mean? What is evolution? Who does man belong to? How was
the Earth formed? What is a story? What is a civilization? What is the mystery
o f the hieroglyphics? Why weren’t the Jews considered as people, but things to
be eliminated? When will we learn to live without killing eachother? What
does it mean to be united?) that brought pupils to think about the interaction
with peers and to actively construct their own knowledge. The method of

philosophizing was useful in approaching disciplines holistically, since

attention was payed less to the program itself, and more to the significance of
the experience, employing active strategies for the development o f guidance

skills.

The philosophical sessions encouraged pupils to play at thinking and

were valuable opportunities to develop, in everyday school life, some

important ‘tasks o f reality’: to draw, read a passage, interpret an image, select

and evaluate evidence and various historical sources, participate in dialogue

sessions, comment on the decisions that govern daily life, take the initiative to

form groups, investigate and evaluate data, write texts with well-structured

arguments, compare different narratives, construct acrostics , concept maps and

time lines, use the PC to summarize, use the Lim to take arguments further,

solve logical problems, raise questions and issues, look for the etymology of

words in the dictionary, assess oneself. In general, the aim was to learn to

philosophize at school and then apply these skills (the so called ‘tasks of

reality’) in everyday life. These tasks were employed at the end o f the

workshop, to assess the skills specified in the Project.

Philosophizing fitted in with this interactive perspective, with the spirit

and ethos o f classes turned into Socratic classes. As well as a conceptual device
for curriculum design, philosophizing became the “red thread” o f the teaching-

learning processes, respecting the language and cognitive development of

children, the motivation and willingness to learn, the emotional and relational

aspects, enhancing the learning styles of each and encouraging metacognitive

reflections. During the students' school experience o f the method of

philosophizing developed some important life guidance skills: the development

o f a learning method centered on a reflexive and heuristic self-guidance, which

can stimulate students to ask questions and seek new solutions, to mature

positive attitudes such as esteem and self-esteem, confidence and self­

confidence, to develop a narrative ability to experiment with processes of self­

knowledge.

Teachers scaffolded, facilitating dialogue and encouraging students to

explore and analyze the reasons for the choice o f criteria used to think and

narrate. Acting as good counselors, they urged students to find good reasons to

support their arguments during collective and individual conversations. The

aim was to put students in a position to philosophize with themselves and with
others, to guide them in constructing arguments, to support them in the

development of self-consciousness.

This is why the design process promoted growth and constructive

guidance in the development o f teachers’ professional self, who understood

their freedom to teach as freedom to research and innovate. Teaching roles

were lived through the paradigm o f educational research that, in the school of

autonomy, develops innovative and effective processes and multiplies the

learning resources73.

As already mentioned, the guidance activities were not taken out o f the

curriculum, but it was a structural component o f the educational courses that

the school offers. Bearing in mind the overall mission of the school, which is to

guarantee the overall development of a person and her integral education, the

guiding aspect of philosophizing supported the leading role o f students and

teachers, who bared the task o f facilitating the methodological practice and

proposing content. In fact, the constructivist approach o f philosophizing wasn’t

used merely as a methodology, reduced to a simple learning technique,

approach that is likely to cancel, in fact, its potential for innovation. At the end

o f the philosophical experience - that these classes have practiced for four

years - we can say that this limit was exceeded since philosophical dialogue

was practiced as a new form o f teaching, that is, as a aggregator and integrator

o f active methodologies already in use in the classes involved (class

participation and dialogue, circle time, focus groups), qualifying them within

overall and epistemic logic that further enhanced the active prominence of

students and teachers. Therefore the role o f the teacher in the Philosophy for

children wasn't to apply a methodological repertoire o f educational sciences,

but to experience, through action-research processes, the Lipminian
curriculum, opening up meta-teaching reflexive spaces74.

73 School autonomy determined by DPR n. 275/1999 implies the development of

research and innovation in teaching and methodology. In 2003, these changes took place
in the school involved in the project, in collaboration withl CRIF e la Faculty of
Education Science in Catania.

74 Cfr. A. Cosentino, Costruttivismo e formazione, Liguori, Napoli 2002, p. 3.

 Final Thoughts and Open Questions
The design metaphor - which thought philosophizing as a compass to

govern the complex currents o f the formation processes o f guidance - assigned

students the role o f a famous protagonist active in the story who learns placing

himself in a state o f self-development: Ulysses, who, while facing the risk of

shipwreck, exercised in questioning himself and in seeking self-knowledge in

the world.

And the teachers? Teachers have also kept in mind the idea o f Ulysses,

the sailor that, as a good director, instead o f relying on the whims o f the

changing winds and currents of postmodernity, takes on the movements o f the

boat and wisely employs the compass o f philosophizing to guide at his best the

construction o f the guidance processes75. In the belief that, as Seneca stated,

“the wind is always favorable to those who know where to g o ”, that is, for

those who know how to navigate towards the shaping o f a happy and

successful personal and professional self.

In this sense, the metaphor o f the compass used as a red thread that runs

through the processes o f orientation and links both design experiences, at

university and in primary school, acquires its meaning. From a hermeneutical

point o f view of the compass represents the real cultural knowledge o f citizens

who are called to choose and philosophize in order to decide the direction of

their existential life paths. The choice of the Socratic model - which supports

the learner to guide himself - appears to be particularly effective in

reorganizing one’s knowledge during the entire course o f existence in the

learning society 16.
The compass, the act o f philosophizing, becomes a tool to acquire

reflective, critical and relational skills, abilities in autobiographical narrative,

problem posing and problem solving skills , the prerequisites necessary for
guidance in the lifelong learning society.

75 Cfr. Z. Bauman, Vita liquida, Laterza, Milano 2006.

76 Cfr. A. Alberici, Imparare sempre nella società della conoscenza, Mondadori,

Milano 2002, pp. 6-8.
 However, what emerged is a need for a unified and integrated guidance

strategy based on a few fundamental paradigms that can be summarized as

follows:

• reconciliation between the various institutions responsible for

guidance, that must proceed according to a mutual direction;

establishment o f local networks and partnerships as recommended by the

European Commission on Lifelong Learning77

• systematic and non fragmented training o f teachers o f all

levels, sensitive to the transverse dimension o f guidance within all

subjects;
• ordinariness o f such action in every level o f education;

• to practice guidance teaching in the classroom through

research/intervention and laboratories;

• building an educational guidance path from kindergarten to

high school within the network o f schools that are part of network for

guidance. The idea is to shape a guidance path starting from a child's first
approach to education78.

With regard to the latter question, the working group, made up o f faculty

advisors, representatives o f the eight institutions that responded to the

invitation to be part of the network, it has already been established and has had

the opportunity to dialogue. Now we need to identify guidance skills that need

to be developed within the whole school experience and to start dialoguing,

philosophizing together, therefore, sharing the overall mission of the Regional

and National networks for guidance: guiding the subject to the shaping o f a
successful personal and social life.

77 Cfr. Commissione Europea,Memorandum su ll’istruzione e laformazione

permanente, SEC (2000) 1832, Bruxelles, 30 ottobre 2000.

78 In a national context, one could refer to the shaping of an interesting “vertical”

guidance experience that took place in Bergamo, reported in A. Varani (ed) In viaggio:
percorso di orientamento dalla scuola d ell’infanzia alla scuola superiore, C.S.A.,
Bergamo 2003.
 A mission is that the teachers involved in the network fully share, since

they care to do their jobs well, with passion, without getting bored, and with

very few resources available. These teachers are proud to use the Socratic

method because they believe that encouraging students to question, to be

responsible for their own reasoning, is useful for guidance understood as

personal and collective well-being.

However, the school also survives thanks to investment policies designed

to remove “obstacles to the development o f people and their effective active

and responsible participation in the choices o f society in today’s global

world”79. Democracy needs this type o f citizens and a school that knows how

to direct their minds to be able to reason, to know how to choose and decide; it

needs a school that practices a more Socratic pedagogy, a pedagogy of

learning, less mechanical; it needs, therefore, a public policy less worried about

making standardized school tests that produce a passive atmosphere among

students and a dull routine for teachers, who are more concerned about training

their students to pass tests. We must not forget, in fact, that these tests do not

assess cognitive and behavioral skills, the ability to guide oneself and

philosophize in Socratic terms and to reflect on one’s self and on the

construction o f one’s own personal history. The school then needs a policy

more sensitive to the issues raised in this study and less obsessed with “the

economic growth that is leading to changes in the curriculum, in the pedagogy

and also in the funding system. If we are aware that we are talking about an

aspect o f the development o f citizens as such, we continue on this issue without

ambiguity “80. This is also an open question, perhaps the most important and

decisive.

f.pulvirenti @ unict.it
sandratigano@virgilio.it

79 T. De Mauro, Introduzione, in M.C. Nussbaum, Non per profitto. Perché le

democrazie hanno bisogno della cultura umanistica, Il Mulino, Bologna 2011, p. 15.

80 Ivi, pp. 27-8.