"life goes on even if there’s a gravestone": philosophy with children and adolescents on virtual memorial sites

Abstract

All over the Internet, many websites operate dealing with collective and personal memory. The sites relevant to collective memory deal with structuring the memory of social groups (nations, states, ethnic groups, religious groups, etc.) and they comprise part of “civil religion”. The sites that deal with personal memory memorialize people who have died and whose family members or friends or other members of their community have an interest in preserving their memory. This article offers an analysis of an expanded philosophical discourse that took place over a two-year period with three groups of young people (children and adolescents) who had experienced loss in their families or their communities and who were partners in writing texts on memorial sites or had established websites as part of coping with the loss. This article seeks to offer a narrative analysis of the philosophical discourse and to contribute to an expansion of the discussion regarding the connection between Philosophy with Children and its methods (such as Community of Inquiry) and the social networks where entire lives involving philosophical dimensions are conducted.