IS THERE A PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN?
IS THERE A PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN?
Author(s): Conona Petrescu, Gabriela PohoaţăSubject(s): Education
Published by: Editura Pro Universitaria
Keywords: paideia; children and philosophy; astonishment; thought; personality; axiological intelligence
Summary/Abstract: This text attempts to problematize if philosophy can be practiced by the youngest disciples taking into account that, starting with the current school year 2013-2014, the Ministry of National Education management has decided to introduce Philosophy for children, as an optional discipline in 3rd and 4st grade. If philosophy is regarded as a subject meant to develop the children's thinking and their personality, then we can philosophize at this level, too. But philosophy as an aspiration for wisdom cannot be supported only by the discursive exercise of reason. It needs a revealed background of knowledge to start from and to come back to in its own reflection. Therefore, philosophy means a particular state of mind grafted onto self-knowledge to which the young schoolchild cannot accede yet because he does not have the necessary cognitive experience of decoding the esoteric and consciousness philosophy, regarded as a spiritual phenomenon. The philosophical education in the sense of paideia may begin in childhood and continue throughout life for the development of a harmonious personality.
Journal: Euromentor Journal - Studies about education
- Issue Year: 2013
- Issue No: 03
- Page Range: 7-12
- Page Count: 6