A Study of the Place of Philosophy for Children in Public Order in Society

In all societies, supreme values and interests hold a particular station. The national legal systems support these supreme values and interests versus individual freedoms and benefits in the form of “public order”. Additionally, public order is the prerequisite for social development and gaining power by a society and the necessary condition for enjoying many instances of citizenship rights. Accordingly, one of the most important purposes of the system of education is training citizens who are well aware of their own rights and duties and are also committed to society. Therefore, it seems necessary to design and execute the curricula in a way to gradually prepare students for social life, discipline, and internalization of necessary laws. In 1960s, by presenting the project of Philosophy for Children (P4C), Matthew Lipman introduced a new model to the field of education which officially considers the teaching of thinking skills to children to be possible even before entering school. In this project, philosophy is used as a method for developing critical thinking, creative thinking, and responsible thinking. The purpose of the present study is to explore the role and place of the Philosophy for Children Program in “public order” in society employing an analytic-descriptive design. Generally speaking, what is extensively practiced in this Program is the use of logical reasoning, which ultimately leads students towards correct judgment and accepting responsibility. It can be claimed that the Program of Teaching Philosophy for Children through “community of inquiry” is one of the most efficient educational methods which results in training cognizant, thoughtful, disciplined, and responsible citizens and provides the conditions for living in a healthy and dynamic society. The results of this study indicate that many of the skills reinforced through the Program of Teaching Philosophy for Children are those which constitute the main elements of citizenship training. Generally speaking, through employing this program, students develop certain types of knowledge, skills, and views which enable them, as members of society, to have active and efficient presence in various fields and play a determining role in establishing public order in society.