Philosophy for Children: The Continuation of Dewey's Democratic Project

Abstract

Introduction:  Matthew Lipman is an American philosopher who conceived, in the 1970s, a method to help children think in an autonomous, critical and reasonable way.  This method is a global approach which aims to develop the personal as well as the intellectual, the moral and the social aspects of the person; it is an educative project in the broad sense of the term.  This holistic project takes the form of a program of philosophy for students from five to fifteen years old.  The philosophical content is adapted to the children's interests and needs and is presented in the form of novels which relate semantic, logic, esthetic and ethic experiences of daily life.