Simon Blackburne, Emeritus Professor, University of Cambridge, arguing for introduction of Philosophy as a school-level subject, says:Philosophy teaches its students to become thoughtful and reflective, and so to know themselves better. By so doing it opens them up to being careful about their own ideas and habits of thought. It is a matter of opening the questioning mind, taking charge of ideas, rather than being enslaved by them. Philosophical practice centres upon these virtues. It shows students not results, but processes. It gives them an attitude to difficult problems, as well as a set of analytic tools for approaching them. It alerts them to the enemies of ideas: dogma, spin, unclarity, complacency, or simple ignorance of alternatives. It gives them dispositions of mind that will remain with them long after they have forgotten the periodic table or the dates of the battles of the Hundred Years War, or how to solve quadratic equations or why anyone would ever want to do so. Because the processes of philosophy are ones of active engagement, rather than passive absorption, the growing child is given a sense of control and participation. He or she is not a vessel into which facts are poured, but a participant in their own self-fashioning......
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 07:09:55 +0000
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