A Native Approach to Philosophy for Children based on Available Versions

Philosophy for children (P4C) which has been devised by Lipman in the United States of America during the last four decades is intended to develop philosophical thinking through using stories for children. However, today it is implemented with some changes in its methodology, form of execution, and story contents in different countries. In some versions, such as philosophy with children (PWC), the philosophical approach is dominant and familiarizing children with the content of philosophy is of greater importance. In this regard, we can refer to the book Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder. However, in some books, such as Stories for Thinking by Robert Fisher or The Philosophy Fables by Piquemal, the dominant approach is of a literary nature, and it has been tried to provide an attractive version of ancient stories embedded in literary texts. Sometimes, as we can see in Jespersen’s works, the intended approach is a cultural one. In fact, by foregrounding the category of culture in philosophical stories, he has tried to provoke children’s interest in thinking through utilizing native stories and national myths. In order to benefit from the existing approaches in the native project of philosophy for children in Iran, we can list a number of important topics and questions with reference to the history of philosophy and philosophers’ related views. These topics are chosen based on the stories included in classical Persian literary texts. Then they are prepared for use in research communities following Lipman’s procedural approach.