There are two popular views regarding the origin of critical thinking: (1) The concept of critical thinking began with Socrates and his Socratic method of questioning. (2) The term 'critical thinking' was first introduced by John Dewey in 1910 in his book "How We Think." This paper argues that both claims are incorrect. Firstly, critical…

This meta-analysis presents empirical research using a Philosophy for/with Children (P4wC) approach. P4wC involves a teacher engaging in philosophical problem posing and dialogue with students. There has been research focussed on the benefits derived from this practice for students. This meta-analysis calculates the effect size of these benefits…

This paper makes a case for why philosophy would be beneficial if promoted among the subjects offered to secondary students in Aotearoa New Zealand. Philosophical inquiry in the form of Philosophy for Children (P4C) has made some inroads at the primary level, but currently very few students are offered philosophy as a subject at the secondary…

Purpose: In this clinical focus article, we discuss the nature of critical thinking, its importance for adolescents, and its interaction with later language development. We also introduce a language arts program, "Philosophy for Adolescents." The program aims to support critical thinking, narrative and expository discourse, and the use…

According to Matthew Lipman, one of the founders of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme, critical thinking improves reasonableness and the exercise of good judgement, both of which Lipman takes to be necessary to sustaining a democratic society. Against his view, I argue that although critical thinking can be done well or badly, it does…

Our purpose in this article is to forward a narrative of valued thinking in education--a narrative that has long been strongly influenced by Western philosophy and scientific psychology. Specifically, we begin by examining the philosophical forebearers of valued thinking, including theories such as rationalism, empiricism, and pragmatism. We…

Siegel claimed that teachers are obliged to provide grounds whenever demanded, as a result of which they must be able to subject to scrutiny whatever they teach. In this paper, however, and taking as a reference Wittgenstein's "On Certainty," it is shown that such a demand cannot work for second language teachers because their main task…

Much of the literature exploring Chinese international student engagement with critical thinking in Western universities draws on reductive essentialisations of 'Confucianism' in efforts to explain cross-cultural differences. In this paper I review literature problematising these tendencies. I then shift focus from inferences about how philosophy…

As Philosophy for Children (P4C) is increasingly favored as an educational approach in other regions, the absence of P4C in traditional schools in Hong Kong raises controversy regarding its benefits for Hong Kong students. This paper investigates the potential of implementing P4C in Hong Kong by exploring the features of values education in Hong…

The common reproach: "think before you speak!," epitomises an educational paradigm in which speech is only the act of transmission finalised ideas. In his inspiring short essay "On the Gradual Formation of Thoughts During Speech" from 1805, the German writer Heinrich von Kleist challenged this approach when he described his…

Children's picturebooks present meaningful opportunities for thinking through life's important questions. In this article, the authors outline the process and benefits of using picturebooks to support philosophical inquiry amongst preschool and elementary aged children. We discuss how philosophical inquiry can promote critical thinking in…

One of the oldest criticisms against 'Philosophy for Children' has been that children are too young to engage in abstractions, critical thinking and logic. And indeed, P4C has often been reduced to a critical thinking program where logic is at the forefront of competence development. Thus, when we are trying to address the question whether or not…

This paper is a reflective response to Tena Thau's suggestion -- in her 2024 piece 'Moral Philosophy as War Propaganda' -- that philosophy has little to teach about the war in Gaza (and, by extension, similar cases of widespread, horrific human suffering). I first reconstruct one of the arguments that Thau makes in her piece. I then show that her…

Descartes compared philosophy to a tree: "Thus, all Philosophy is like a tree, of which Metaphysics is the root, Physics the trunk, and all the other sciences the branches that grow out of this trunk, which are reduced to three principal, namely, Medicine, Mechanics, and Ethics. By the science of Morals, I understand the highest and most…

This study examined and categorized the views of undergraduate college students in the Philippines and correlated those with similar patterns of views regarding the use of Design Thinking (DT) in their Philosophy course. The QMethodology was used to analyze qualitative data using PQMethod (Schmolck & Atkinson, 2013) software quantitatively.…