Because of their innocent approach to things, do children make good philosophers? Or do they lack the equipment for clear-thinking? Is exposure to philosophy good for children? Or will it undermine their sense of security? John and Ken welcome Jana Mohr Lone, founder and director of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children at the University of Washington. Together they'll put some classic philosophical questions about Mind/Body, Personal Identity, Ethics, and Social Philosophy to a live -- and questioning -- audience of Seattle schoolchildren.
John begins by asking Ken if children have anything to teach philosophers about philosophy, other than teaching the virtue of patience. Aristotle believed that our minds start as a "blank slate," waiting to be filled with education. But, if children start out as a blank slate, why should we think that they have anything philosophical to share? Ken thinks that children are in many ways better equipped for philosophy, precisely because of the "blankness of their slates." College philosophy classes spend most of their time tearing away at what we think we know. Children are natural philosophers, ready to question everything (perhaps even your intelligence), down to the very substance of reality itself.
Jana Mohr Lone加入了对话。她相信我们每个人都有一个哲学的自我，包括5岁的孩子。不幸的是，这种哲学自我在正规教育中被忽略了。Jana的作品试图通过与从幼儿园到高中的各个年龄段的孩子讨论哲学问题来改变这种不平衡。每个人，无论是孩子还是成年人，似乎都喜欢辩论这些问题，甚至可能和约翰和肯一样。
But today’s show is not merely a philosophical discussion of children and philosophy—it’s a philosophical discussion by the fourth-grade live audience. Together with John, Ken, and Jana the kids explore philosophical issues ranging from the nature of composite objects to the mind-body problem to the nature of personal identity. Ken notices that the kids work through these deep issues in parallel steps to the history of philosophy. For example, everyone seems to start out a dualist, but, with some prodding by John and Ken, some children start to question why the supposedly separate mind cannot exist without the brain. The discussion, a good deal more heartwarming than your average philosophical debate, confirms that children are natural philosophers. Even John has to admit to being amazed—the fourth graders grasp the issues quicker than most college students!
