What Is Philosophy?

The Big Questions

< Susan Andrews >

Strand | 1 – Foundations for Doing Philosophy

Author | Susan (Kyne) Andrews / Temple Carraig Secondary School Greystones & Daniel Mccrea
Type | Class Presentation
Keywords | Socrates, Plato, Fields of Philosophy, Origins of Philosophy, Democritus, Why study Phil?
Recommended Year | 1st Year myshortcourse.com
 Notes on Usage
From the author…
These teacher-made resources are intended for anyone doing philosophy with children or teens and are my attempt to share
some ideas I use in the classroom. The emphasis in the Short Course is on "doing" Philosophy and facilitating enquiries and there
is no prescribed curriculum that must be covered. However, if you have not studied Philosophy before, the slides can provide an
awareness of basic philosophical topics in a bite-sized form and help you feel more confident taking on the Short Course. The
information about philosophy does not need to be taught explicitly to students but you may find after laying the foundations of
"doing" philosophy, that students' philosophical awareness and curiosity grows and they enjoy being introduced to great thinkers
like themselves!
The slides are mere examples of lessons and include sample activities that have worked for me in class. They are by no means
exhaustive and they are not intended to be completed or rushed through in one session. Depending on your group, you will find
that some are too detailed and you may disregard half the material or return to it at a later date. I have put a recommended year
group but this is a guide and depends on your group. Anything for 3rd years will work well for TYs too. It is important to check the
suitability of any suggested stimulus and do not use anything you are not comfortable with. Hopefully this will inspire you to find
even better spring boards for your enquiries.
The sessions are student led so you never know where you will end up but by having examples of stimuli and an insight into the
background philosophy on some topics, it will hopefully help you spot the philosophy in the students' discussions and show you
how enjoyable it is to co-explore these ideas together with your students.

From the team…

All materials are presented as is and are protected under our understanding of fair, non-commercial use for educational purposes per Copyright and
Related Rights Act, 2000, Esp. Section 54. However, if you are the creator of any content presented on this site and object to its use, please contact us
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 Introduction

“The Unexamined
Life is Not Worth
Living”
Socrates

What Does This

Mean? Video Blocks

Symple Workz LLC

Do You Agree?
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 What Is Philosophy?

🔎
Borromeo Seminary

Why do we give each other

names?

Do you know what Sophia

means? Look it up!

Now find out what the Greek

word Philo means.
“Philosophy Begins In
Wonder” So, what does "Philosophy"
Plato mean?

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 The Philosopher
From the Greek words ‘philo’
and ‘sophia’. Philo means ‘to
love’ Sophia means ‘wisdom’
So, Philosophy, means :
The love of wisdom
The Philosopher, then, is...
“The person who loves
wisdom”
Who would you consider wise?
What makes that person wise?
✏
In your small group decide on a
definition of "wisdom".
Write it down and place it in the
middle of the big group.
After you have read them all, stand
next to the definition that sums up
wisdom best.
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 Big Questions

Chris Anderson | Ted Ed

Philosophers usually ask questions
about ‘big’ or ‘ungoogleable’
questions.

They tend to wonder about things

Questions Nobody Knows The Answer To (2mins)
which do not have settled answers. https://ed.ted.com/lessons/questions-no-one-knows-the-answers-to

Watch the beginning of this clip and note

Can you think of questions like this?
down the big questions the narrator has.

Who answers them?

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 Branches of Philosophy
Philosophy has been around for so long (over 2,000 years) it has many branches.
The love of asking questions lies at the heart of Philosophy.
Philosophers ask questions about all sorts of things. For example:

What is truth?
Epistemology
What is knowledge?
What is goodness?
Ethics
How do I live a good life?
What is Art?
What is beauty? Aesthetics
Why do we care about fictional characters in books and films?
What is Justice?
Political Philosophy
How should society be organised?
What is time?
Metaphysics
Does everything have a cause?
Is there an immaterial mind in my body which is separate from it?
Can computers think? Philosophy of Mind
Do animals have minds?
 Origins of Philosophy

> There was a shift in Ancient Greece from old religious myth explanations about
the world to natural explanations. Naturalists asked questions and looked for
empirical evidence in the natural world.

> Psychology and Science started out as Philosophy, but then became their own
subjects.

> Scientists in the 19th Century called themselves ‘Natural Philosophers’ because
they were working on the philosophy of nature, asking questions about how nature
worked. (The word ‘scientist’ was first used in 1834)

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 What Do You Think Is
The Most Ingenious Toy
Ever Invented?

Why?
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 Democritus (460bc – 370bc)
Why is Lego "the most ingenious toy in the world?”

Lego
Democritus, the Greek philosopher believed that everything was
made up of tiny, invisible, and eternal particles called atoms. The
word atom means “uncuttable”. In science physicists today still
believe that there is some smallest particle in the physical world.
Are all lego blocks the same? Democritis believed that if all atoms
were the same then how could they combine to form everything
from flowers and trees to cows and human hair. He believed that
nature consisted of an unlimited number and variety of atoms.
When a body dies – a tree or animal – the atoms dispersed and
could be used in new bodies.
So do you see what I mean by lego? They can be used over and over
again. Today we can establish that Democritis atom theory was
more or less correct. ( we know now they can be broken down into < Creative thinking time! >
particles protons, neutrons and electrons. Make a duck from Lego.
Do all the ducks look the same?
What scientific equipment did he have? Only his mind.
What makes your duck, a duck?
That’s all the equipment or material you will need to do Philosophy.

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 Natural Born Philosophers
Have you thought about these things
Is it easier to before?
Is my Social
love or be Media “me”
loved? real?
Do you think they are important?
Think back. What types of questions did you
ask your parents when you were younger?
Is happiness
Why did you stop asking them?
or freedom What is
more Education As little children we wonder about
important? for? everything, but as life goes on we begin to
take certain things for granted even though
we do not understand them.

✏
Write down any big questions you have on a post it and
pop it on the Question Tree.

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 Why Study Philosophy At School?

For fun! To give time and space to your natural curiosity and wonder about the world.

For adventure! Step into the unknown. You might not always find easy answers, you
might change how you think, you might realise there are things we don’t understand and
we don’t know where our questions will lead.

To cultivate courage! You need courage to think for yourself and not let others do
the thinking for you.

To broaden your mind! The more you ask questions and listen to the experience of
others; the broader our understanding of the world becomes.

To challenge yourself! Our world is under pressure and recent big questions about
our relationship to the Earth and technology have become urgent. We need you to tackle
these important questions for the future.

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 Additional Resources…

http://www.myshortcourse.com/resources/strand-01-foundations-for-doing-philosophy/