Philosophy
Middle School Philosophy Program
CSS hosts two philosophy programs: Argument-Inquiry Skills and Philosophy for Children
Philosophy is a required course at CSS - for seven years! This requirement is unique in the nation and allows students to explore life's big questions and develop the intellectual, moral and psychosocial skills necessary to grapple with them. Philosophy meets for three periods of Socratic dialogue per week. The program is designed jointly by Dr. Paul Thomson, the Philosopher-in-Residence at CSS, and Dr. Deanna Kuhn, of Columbia University Teachers College. Dr. Kuhn’s doctoral students assist with instruction. Embedded in the program is the school's advisory program. Both faculty are authors of important scholarly work and textbooks. Dr. Kuhn has authored more dozens of scholarly articles and two major books - she is considered a world expert in the study of teaching argument and inquiry skills. Dr. Thomson has authored or co-authored three textbooks in Philosophy for Children, two of which are currently used at CSS.
Argument and Inquiry as Intellectual Skills
Why add philosophy to an already full middle-school curriculum? The major purpose is to help students learn to think deeply about important issues. Later, in high school and college philosophy courses, they will study in more depth the ideas of the great philosophers. The goal in middle school is to engage students in philosophizing themselves, about enduring philosophical issues as well as related contemporary social ones. In so doing, they begin to recognize that many issues are not as simple as they first appear. They also develop the thinking skills that become increasingly important as they advance academically.
Our pedagogical approach follows no lesser a figure than Socrates, who believed that genuine philosophizing requires live dialog. Through peer dialogs and associated reflective activities, students develop the critical argument skills that they then can apply in their thinking and writing across the curriculum. Progress in acquiring such intellectual skills is less apparent to students than mastering typical course content. Like athletic skills, they develop slowly with practice.
Students engage in dialogs with peers using a computer chat program. They thus have a written record of these dialogs as a basis for several kinds of analysis activities. They also engage in same-side small-group work to prepare for dialogs with opposing peers and for a final whole-class ‘showdown’ debate. As a conclusion to each main topic, they write a final position essay.
Sixth graders begin Argument with simple close-to-home issues (e.g., “Should a misbehaving student be expelled from school?) and focus on learning how to directly address a classmate’s points. They gradually progress to topics of broader scope (e.g., “Should animals be used in research?”), and by 7th grade the focus is expanded to the importance of seeking out evidence to strengthen and weaken arguments and students take on this task. In 8th grade, we return to a more personal focus, examining the overarching topic: What makes a ‘Good Adolescence?’ Among the topics students address are whether youth should do a year of community service before college and whether teens should be subject to the same criminal standards as adults. In a final phase they address the task of developing a personal philosophy to see them through their high school years, drawing on the text Socrates’ way: Seven master keys to using your mind to the utmost.
Philosophy for Children
While philosophy is quite commonly taught to middle and high school students in other countries, it is still rarely found in middle and high schools in the United States. That is a shame, for philosophy makes a significant contribution to writing and critical thinking skills, and it intersects in many places with other parts of the core curriculum. What is more, students are very good at doing philosophy (much to the surprise of some adults). Think how many times children ask “Why?”, that most basic of philosophical questions. While “philosophy” literally means “love of wisdom”, it is perhaps better characterized as an attempt to answer those questions that science by itself cannot answer, that can only be answered by thinking about them. To take just two examples, science by itself will not tell us whether lying is always wrong, or what was going on “before” the big bang. For that, philosophical dialogue is required (and indeed, some philosophers argue that the second question doesn’t even make sense).
In the sixth and seventh grades, our primary goal is to have students learn that there is no such thing as a right to an opinion. Holding an opinion brings with it the responsibility of having good reasons which support that opinion, as well as a responsibility to critically examine those reasons and to seriously consider alternative views. These are the skills that are necessary if we are to turn our children into good citizens. So at CSS we are not concerned that students learn the various “isms”, or the positions of famous philosophers, rather it is the ideas that are important (the “isms” and famous philosophers can be added as students progress to higher grade levels). We begin with topics drawn largely from ethics and aesthetics. Seemingly simple questions such as “Would you still act ethically if you were invisible?” spark interesting and intense debates. We also have units devoted to the “big” questions. Here is a sampling: What is love?, Is beauty a matter of fact or a matter of taste?, What is the purpose of art?, Is lying always wrong? Do animals have rights?, What are our obligations to the environment?, Why do bad things happen to good people?, and, of course, What is the meaning of life?. These topics and others are treated in detail in our primary text, Philosophy for Teens (volume 1) by Sharon Kaye, Ph.D. and Paul Thomson, Ph.D. A second volume will be used in higher grades and treats topics such as the nature of knowledge, whether machines can think, whether free will is real or simply an illusion, the difference between real science and fakery (pseudoscience), and the like. These volumes have in common a commitment to “drama pedagogy”; that is, short plays open each chapter and introduce the main topic, and students are asked in turn to write plays of their own. This means that students are actively participating in their own learning, and not simply memorizing the text.
Upper School Philosophy Program
9th grade
Fall - Bioethics Spring - Philosophy of Knowledge-Introduction to Epistemology
