About Philosophy for Children
The process known round the
world as ‘Philosophy for Children’
began during the late 1960’s with
the work of Matthew Lipman.
As professor of Philosophy at Columbia University,
Lipman was concerned that young people beginning
their philosophical studies at university were unable to
think in ways necessary to tackle philosophical issues at
this level. Noticing that his own children beginning
school were not being encouraged to develop critical
thinking skills he wondered if the problem lay in
schooling itself!!
Resigning his post at Columbia Matthew
Lipman took a position in the teacher-training institute
in Montclair State and began developing the Philosophy
for Children Programme. The original programme
consisted of a sequence of finely constructed stories
pitched at different ages and dealing with different
philosophical themes. In this way philosophical skills are
developed in a planned and progressive way.