philosophy for children program as a proposal of moral education: analysis compared with other approaches to moral education

Abstract

What we will try to demonstrate in the present article is that the proposal of Philosophy for Children (P4C), regarded holistically and, in particular, in its ethical dimension, can be thought of as a program of moral education. In order to do this, after a brief review of the epistemological foundations that are at the base of the Philosophy for Children program with respect to moral education, we will compare the ethical aspect of this program to other approaches to moral education (the approach of the clarification of values, that of request, narrative and that of discursive, cordial and reconstruction ethics). Finally, to complete our analysis, we will present a critique of Lipman's proposal, which, far from diminishing its validity, can be used to project this approach to moral education beyond its own limits. We maintain that, taken in its commitment to moral education, Philosophy for Children is an integrative and original proposal. Integrative, in the sense that it is a proposal that brings together the vital elements present in the main contemporary approaches to education. Original, for promoting the development of a higher order, critical, creative and caring thought as necessary to the permanent formation of the moral subject.