Authors : Hassan Maleki, Tala`t Sabagh Hassan Zadeh, Saeid Beheshti, Abbas Abbaspour and Farkhondeh Mofidi
Abstract: One of the primary objectives of any educational system is to raise awareness and focusing on thinking skills of students. In recent decades, Lipman has suggested philosophy as a curriculum for children to develop philosophical thinking and philosophizing in students. A curriculum is based on the insight and vision of its founders to the truth of man and of his existence in terms of the goal or goals considered for education and their beliefs in the quality of growth and human movement towards the desired goal as well as certain philosophical and theoretical foundations. Since the foundations of educational systems and consequently curricula are based on four anthropological, ontological, epistemological and axiological fields, this study examines the anthropological foundations of P4C from the perspective of Lipman. The methodology used is analytic and deductive. Data is collected by archival studies, review of documents and note taking and analyzed by deductive categorization system. Finally, this study identifies the anthropological foundations in impressive focus of this curriculum on biological evolution of children in the nature as well as their individual and social growth in the community. Philosophical dialogues of children in the community of inquiry form around discussions on nature and society. This dialogue is associated with both individual rights of children which are expressed by the concept of “I” and “other” in philosophical debate and ethical considerations by learning how to interact in groups which is the the underlying assumption of Lipman’s P4C. The advantages of this curriculum include positive attitude to human, personal and social identity, belief in free will and change in human.
Hassan Maleki, Tala`t Sabagh Hassan Zadeh, Saeid Beheshti, Abbas Abbaspour and Farkhondeh Mofidi, 2016. Anthropological Horizons of P4C Focusing on Lipman Theory. The Social Sciences, 11: 6172-6177.