Report on Symposium at the 76^th Annual Meeting: General Symposium:What Philosophical Significance Does Research in History ofPhilosophy Have Today?

Abstract

The “Working Group for Philosophy Education”, which promotes philosophy education under the aegis of The Philosophical Association of Japan, has been holding regular annual “Workshops for Philosophy Education”. Though the topics of the workshops are wide-ranging, the topic most frequently taken up so far is philosophy education in senior high schools. This is natural, considering the fact that “Ethics” which is taught in high schools is the only “philosophical” subject taught in primary and secondary education in Japan. Other topics are philosophy education in universities, elementary schools and junior high schools, and philosophical dialogue among citizens. Philosophy education in elementary and junior high schools and philosophical dialogue among the citizens may need some explanation as they are not so familiar as philosophy education in universities or senior high schools.

The forms of philosophy education in schools taken up in the workshops belong to the stream of “Philosophy for Children (P4C)”, which was established by Matthew Lipman in the 1970’s. It is not meant for teaching concepts or theories of philosophy but to let children learn to think through philosophical dialogue. This form of education started to spread in Japan around 2010. The reasons P4C has been taken up in the workshops are that it is a significant form of philosophy in itself and that it is expected to contribute to fostering the most fundamental intellectual skills such as thinking for oneself and thinking together in communication with others.

The most popular form of philosophical dialogue among citizens is the “Philosophical Café”, which is supposed to have started in Paris in the early 1990’s. Philosophical cafés have been held in Japan since around 2000 and they are getting more and more popular today. The reasons philosophical dialogue among citizens has been taken up in the workshops are that it is expected to relate to forms of education in a broad sense, such as adult education and life-long learning, and that it is expected to provide a good opportunity for us to think about the relationship between philosophical dialogue among laypersons and research and education in philosophy among experts.

This feature article on philosophy education consists of four papers contributed by the speakers of past workshops featuring philosophy education in senior high schools, in universities, and in elementary and junior high schools, and teacher training for philosophy in schools in Australia.