•  14
    Educating Selves in a Tech Addicted Age
    with Jason Chen
    Childhood and Philosophy 19 (n/a): 01-23. 2023.
    In this paper we argue that, if it is true that maximum self-development is better both for individuals and society, and if it is true that that self-development is being seriously curtailed by pervasive environmental tech forces, then clearly educational systems, since they are guardians of “developing” young humans, have a moral imperative to push back against forces that diminish the self. On the other hand, if it is not true that “more self is always better,” that perhaps “goodness of fit” b…Read more
  •  175
    COMPLEXITY, DIALOGUE, AND DEMOCRACY: THE EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
    Journal of Didactics of Philosophy 6 (1): 1-17. 2022.
    There is an unacknowledged disagreement on what kind of dialogue best supports democracy. Many view democracy as analogous to a law court and so view “democratic dialogue” as a contest between competing advocates who have acquired the kind of “steel trap” critical thinking skills that are ideal for winning in the external marketplace of ideas. Others assume that the propensity to seriously reflect on opposing viewpoints within the minds of individuals is ideal for democratic maintenance. It …Read more
  •  165
    Though central to metaphysics, and exciting for entertainment, the fact that selves are invisible, has received insufficient attention in the field of P4C, and virtually none in the field of education in general. This may not be surprising as the enthusiasm to enrich “minds” both with essential information as well as with critical, creative, and cooperative inquiry skills, may blind educators to the fact that their initiatives (even those that are dialogical) may not touch how children view them…Read more
  •  130
    Education and Resentment
    with Daniel J. Anderson
    Open Journal for Studies in Philosophy 5 (1): 19-32. 2021.
    That the world is awash with resentment poses a genuine question for educators. Here, we will suggest that resentment can be better harnessed for good if we stop focusing on people and tribes and, instead, focus on systems: those invisible norms that often produce locked-in structures of social interaction. A “systems lens” is vast, so fixes will have to be an iterative process of reflection, and revision toward a more just system. Nonetheless, resentment toward the status quo may be an imp…Read more
  •  120
    A dialogue in support of social justice
    with Daniel J. Anderson
    Praxis and Saber 10 (21): 215-233. 2019.
    There are kinds of dialogue that support social justice and others that do the reverse. The kinds of dialogue that support social justice require that anger be bracketed and that hiding in safe spaces be eschewed. All illegitimate ad hominem/ad feminem attacks are ruled out from the get-go. No dialogical contribution can be down-graded on account of the communicator’s gender, race, or religion. As well, this communicative approach unapologetically privileges reason in full view of theo…Read more
  •  6
    Respect: How Do We Get There? A Philosophical Inquiry (edited book)
    with Eva Marsal and Barbara Weber
    Lit Verlag Fresnostre. 2013.
    What precisely do we mean by respect? How should we adjudicate between conflicting demands of respect? What obstacles stand in the way of respect? The papers contained in this international anthology were presented at the North American Association of the Community of Inquiry conference in Vancouver, Canada, in June 2012, and were the outcome of in-depth and interdisciplinary discussions around the various aspects of respect. The book is an exacting and exciting analysis of the notion of respect…Read more
  •  115
    RESPECT AND THE VEIL
    In Eva Marsal, Barbara Weber & Susan T. Gardner (eds.), Respect: How Do We Get There? A Philosophical Inquiry, Lit Verlag Fresnostre. pp. 23-33. 2013.
  •  195
    Reasoning (or not) with the Unreasonable
    with Anastasia Anderson and Wayne Henry
    Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 39 (2): 1-10. 2019.
  •  84
    TAKING SELVES SERIOUSLY
    In Barbara Weber, Eva Marsal, H. Karfriedrich, T. Dobashi & P. Schweitzer (eds.), Cultural Politics and Identity, Lit Verlag. pp. 79-89. 2011.
  •  93
    THE EVOLUTION OF CONNECTIVITY: A BRIDGE BEYOND
    In Barbara Weber, Eva Marsal & N. J. Dobashi (eds.), The Politics of Empathy: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives on an Ancient Phenomenon., Transaction Publishers. pp. 51-59. 2011.
  •  119
    Love Thy Neighbour? Maybe Not
    In Eva Marsal, Takara Dobashi & Barbara Weber (eds.), Children Philosophize Worldwide: Theoretical and Practical Concepts, Peter Lang. pp. 421. 2009.
  •  284
    AUTHENTICITY: IT SHOULD AND CAN BE NURTURED
    Mind, Culture, and Activity 22 (4): 392-401. 2015.
  •  90
    Autonomy: A Philosophical Capture
    Practical Philosophy 4 (2): 19-22. 2001.
  •  127
    What Kind of Magnet Is Freedom?
    Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 40 (1): 60-70. 2020.
  •  89
    Meeting youngsters where they “are at”: demonstrating its advantages
    with Alex Newby
    Childhood and Philosophy 15 (1): 1-26. 2019.
    When Mathew Lipman first introduced Philosophy for Children to the world, his goal was not to sneak a little academic philosophy into the typical school curriculum, as one might expect from the titles of his first books: Philosophy in the Classroom and Philosophy Goes to School. His goal, rather, was to create a paradigm shift in the field of education itself: namely, to transform the typical hierarchical model into one in which the teacher/facilitator solicits responses from students and hence,…Read more
  •  790
    Truth: In Ethics and Elsewhere
    Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 19 (1): 78-88. 1999.
  •  124
    Using Communal Inquiry as a Way of Increasing Group Cohesion in Soccer Teams
    Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 39 (1): 34-45. 2018.
  •  373
    Inquiry Is No Mere Conversation Facilitation Of Inquiry Is Hard Work!
    Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 16 (2): 102-111. 1995.
  •  260
    A dialogue in support of social justice
    with Daniel Johnson
    Praxis 23 (10): 216-233. 2019.
    There are kinds of dialogue that support social justice and others that do the reverse. The kinds of dialogue that supports social justice requires that anger be bracketed and that hiding in safe spaces be eschewed. All illegitimate ad hominem/ad feminem attacks are ruled out from the get-go. No dialogical contribution can be down-graded on account of the communicator’s gender, race, or religion. As well, this social justice communicative approach unapologetically privileges reason in full view …Read more
  •  156
    Guardians of the Possibility that Claims Can Be False
    Open Journal for Studies in Philosophy 4 (1): 11-24. 2020.
    It is difficult to be a philosopher in this postmodern era. This is so because philosophers, who heretofore have been the archetype of persons eager to engage in reasoned discourse, regardless of their differences, suddenly seem unable to talk to each other, primarily due to claim by postmoderns that non-postmoderns are naïve in their blindness to the fact that truth the claims cannot be true in any objective sense, and that claims to objectivity have been used maliciously throughout the ages to…Read more
  •  301
    The tragedy of the commons is a primary contributing factor in ensuring that humanity makes no serious inroads in averting climate change. As a recent Canadian politician pointed out, we could shut down the Canadian economy tomorrow, and it would make no measurable difference in global greenhouse gas emissions. When coordinated effort is required, it would seem that doing the “right thing” alone is irrational: it will harm oneself with no positive consequences as a result. Such is the tragedy. A…Read more
  •  286
    Does philosophy kill culture?
    with Jason Chen
    Journal of Philosophy in Schools 7 (1): 4. 2020.
    Given that one of the major goals of the practice of Philosophy for Children (P4C) is the development of critical thinking skills (Sharp 1987/2018, pp. 4 6), an urgent question that emerged for one of the authors, who is of Chinese Heritage and a novice practitioner at a P4C summer camp was whether this emphasis on critical thinking might make this practice incompatible with the fabric of Chinese culture. Filial piety (孝), which requires respect for one’s parents, elders, and ancestors is …Read more
  •  77
    Book description: This outstanding collection of specially commissioned chapters examines German idealism from several angles and assesses the renewed interest in the subject from a wide range of fields. Including discussions of the key representatives of German idealism such as Kant, Fichte and Hegel, it is structured in clear sections dealing with: * metaphysics * the legacy of Hegel’s philosophy * Brandom and Hegel * recognition and agency * autonomy and nature * the philosophy of German roma…Read more
  •  145
    Teaching Freedom
    Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 21 (1): 24-33. 2001.
  •  173
    What Would Socrates Say To Mrs Smith?
    Philosophy Now 84 13-15. 2011.
    In the face of disobedience, and in the name of the short-term goal of a smooth-functioning and/or happy household, parents often feel caught between two diametrically opposed parenting strategies; make it happen or let it go. However, either strategy of dictator or friend can seriously jeopardize a child’s long-term best interests. If children, adolescents, young adults, full adults or oldsters are even to hear, let alone reasonably answer, the prudential and ethical “whys” that their intended …Read more
  •  150
    Philosophy:: A Potential Gender Blender
    Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 17 (2): 101-111. 1996.
  •  183
    Dedication: I would like to dedicate this essay to Mort Morehouse, whose intelligence, warmth, and good humour sustains NAACI to this day. I would like, too, to dedicate this essay to Nadia Kennedy who, in her paper “Respecting the Complexity of CI,” suggests that respect for the rich non-reductive emergent memories and understandings that evolve out of participating in the sort of complex communicative interactions that we experienced at the 2012 NAACI conference requires “a turning around and …Read more