Philosophy for Children (P4C) from the USA to Australia: The development of P4C as an ecofeminist pedagogy

Description

Philosophy for Children (P4C) was first developed in the late 1960s by American philosopher Matthew Lipman. It is now practised and researched all over the world. P4C involves students and teachers participating in dialogue-based, collaborative inquiries into philosophical problems. It aims to foster a wide range of thinking skills, meaningfulness, participatory democracy, and the dispositions needed to effectively participate in communal inquiries such as reasonableness, open-mindedness, care and respect for others, imaginativeness and a willingness to self-correct. P4C also has its own philosophy of education, influenced by John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky. As P4C has spread around the globe, its materials, practices and theories have evolved as they have been adapted to new contexts and integrated with other ideas and practices. In this inaugural column, I will provide a brief overview of P4C and its history, before focusing on how P4C was taken up and adapted in Australia. In particular, we will see how numerous Australian philosophers integrated P4C with pioneering Australian feminist philosophy, especially Genevieve Lloyd’s feminist critique of reason and Val Plumwood’s ecofeminism, which extends upon on Lloyd’s work. Thus, it is not surprising that current Australian philosophers and educators are exploring and developing P4C so that it may contribute to environmental education.