Reconsidering the Examined Life: Philosophy and Children

Michael D. Burroughs

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Reconsidering the Examined Life: Philosophy and Children

In: Negotiating Childhoods

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Michael D. Burroughs

Michael D. Burroughs
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 189–199

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848880467_020

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In this paper I consider the child’s eligibility for living ‘the examined life.’ To begin, I discuss the historical challenge as represented in the philosophical canon: philosophers ranging from Plato and Aristotle to Kant and Rousseau deny philosophical ability in the child. Rather, the child is discussed as ‘irrational,’ appetitive,’ and ‘emotional’ - qualities that prohibit participation in the philosophical life. The legacy of these views for the academy and pre-college education in the United States is clear: philosophy remains largely a discipline for the socio-economically privileged and is absent in most pre-college academic institutions. I challenge the historical representation of the child and its contemporary manifestations: children are eligible to live the examined life and can add positively to the discipline of philosophy. This challenge is informed by the work of Paulo Freire in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed and by my own experience as a practitioner of Philosophy for Children. Children possess a unique perspective on problems of ethics and social justice. By remaining open to this perspective and by doing philosophy with children we move toward rectifying the absence of the child’s voice in the canon and, in turn, create a more inclusive notion of philosophy itself.

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Negotiating Childhoods

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848880467

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 08 May 2010

Subjects
- Philosophy
  - General
- Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies
  - Youth & Adolescence

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Reconsidering the Examined Life: Philosophy and Children

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Negotiating Childhoods

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