An Interview with Matthew Lipman

Abstract

Introduction:  E. Bosch: What do you think the expression philosophy teacher means nowadays? What does do be a philosophy teacher mean?
M. lipman: It means to help children think philosophically, making access to philosophical thinking easy for them. Naturally, the next question would be: what does philosophical thinking consist of? And I would say that it consists of trying to think reasonably about certain concepts that philosophers have always discussed, the nature of which is very general. Since these concepts do not belong to any specific discipline, no discipline deals with these ideas. Concepts such as truth, justice, freedom, relationship..., are not limited to specific disciplines, and, therefore, if you lead children to reflect, to analyze, to discuss and argue about general concepts, then you are leading them to think philosophically. But, immediately you could ask: What does reasonable mean? And I would say that reasonable thinking is critical and creative at the same time. However when someone is being critical or creative or both, she may not be aware she is doing this. I mean that there are a few people who are aware of their thinking processes, and who say to themselves «I am being critical» when they think critically, or «I am being creative» when they think creatively. It would be ridiculous. However, if we had to do it, we could establish the criteria that make critical thinking critical. In this way, I think that teaching this is an initiative in favor of rationality. It is not magic, as when a magician takes a rabbit from the hat. I think also that we are finding the way to do it and I am convinced that this already constitutes an essential part of education. Actually, I do not think it is possible to speak seriously about education without philosophy as a component.