Philosophy for Teens

Questioning Life’s Big Ideas in 2014

@dabambic philosophyforteens.pbworks.com West Island College

Philosophy for Teens 2014

5th version of this class, each one is distinctive.

Visit the past videos on the wiki; see the link on the front page.

“What am I gettingmyself into?”

Plato & his student, Aristotle

‘Doing’ philosophy: Is it dangerous?

Start at the beginning: First steps...

Oracle at Delphi

Temple built for Apollo

believed to be the center of the earth, or the navel of Gaia.

The oracle was a priestess who spoke ‘truth in trance’ and claimed Socrates to be the wisest of the mortals.

To understand oneself is to understandother humans as well.

What questions do you have that arecommon to all people?

How would you formulate these questions? How do you look for the answers?

Why begin with self knowledge?

Listen to what is being said.

What does it take to really listen?

What does it feel like when you really listen to the

other person’s position?

Why would it feel threatening to listen to an

opposite opinion to our own?

Listening Skills are Essential

Thinking in slow motion.

Why is this important?

Zoom in on thoughts;

observe them.

Why is this important?

Clarify words – be very

precise.

Slow motion thinking

Check the assumptions

What is an assumption?

A hypothesis accepted as truth butwithout

proof.

Why should we check

assumptions? Why is truth

important?

It’s all about finding the

truth.

Philosophers assert that

truth can be discovered

through the process of

logically thinking and

reasoned arguments.

Person 1 asks a philosophical question.

What does it mean to be fair?

Person 2 gives a common sense

answer/definition.

To be fair means to treat people the same way.

Everybody should benefit from the same rights andopportunities

Person 1 thinks of a counter example that does not

fit the definition given. This shows that the first

answer was incomplete, biased or uninformed.

All children deserve their parents’ attention. Some

children might have special needs and

consequently the parent spends more time with

that one child than with the others. Is that fair?

Person 2 refines the answer to include the counterexample.

So then, being fair means treating people with equality and not in ‘the same way’. Equality must take into consideration how people are different.

Person 1 either looks for the hidden assumption or continues to questions until both are satisfied with the definition/answer.

Deduction: from the big picture to the little one. Draw a conclusion from the general statement.

Premise: All teenagers are techno savvy. Conclusion: Jim is a teenager therefore he is techno savvy.

Start with a general knowledge and proceed to aspecific observation/conclusion.

If you know that the horn

of your bike is powered

exclusively by the

electricity from the battery,

then you can logically INFER

that if the battery is dead,

the horn won’t work.

Deductive logic lets us reach a conclusion based

only on the information contained in the premise of

in the set of statements.

English is a compulsory course for all sec 5

students.

You are in sec 5, therefore you must take English.

Begin with the observations /particulars and arrive

at the conclusion.

Example: Every time the motorcycle goes over a

bump, the engine misfires. On the smooth road

there is no misfiring but after the bump, the

problem re-occurs.

What can we conclude?

Something can’t be and not be at the same time.

Example: It is not possible to say that Jim is alive

and that Jim is dead at the same time. A person

cannot BE and NOT BE at the same time.

So, you can’t have your cake and eat it too in a

philosophical debate.

As in the previous example, because you cannot

both be alive and dead at the same time, then

there is no third or middle possibility.

Either it IS or it IS NOT.

Something is what it is. Jim is Jim. He is not Paul

or Daryl.

It is untrue to say that Jim is Paul.

These might sound silly to you but Aristotle (Plato’s

student) developed this system of logic and it is still

being used today.

Test the premise with these laws. If it passes these

laws, there is a possibility that the premise is true.

The truer the premise, the stronger the conclusion.

Listen to the assumptions in the arguments.

This is called critical thinking and it is the first step

in DOING philosophy.

Test out the ARGUMENT.

Can you find weaknesses?

Look at the premise. Does it pass the test?

The stronger the premise, the better the

conclusion.