A Review and Reconstruction of the Story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan and its Use in the Program of Philosophy and Children (P&C)

In this paper, the author has tried to review and reconstruct the story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan as the prototype of philosophical story writing for teaching thinking, deliberation, and rationalization in the Iranian-Islamic paradigm from a new perspective. He has also attempted to explain the methods of employing it in the classroom and philosophical research circles. Although the Iranian-Islamic culture and philosophy contains several rich literary, scientific, and philosophical elements and components, they have not yet attracted the attention of the researchers in the field of education as much as they deserve. Nor have they been explored by practitioners in the recent program of Philosophy for Children (P4C). Some of the people who advocate this program or translate its related works in Iran believe that Philosophy for Children has a western origin and is fed by western culture and philosophy. As a result, they claim that they must follow the “methods” and “ideas” of the founders and pioneers of this program. They even believe that they should translate their stories, which are incompatible with the Iranian lifestyle and Islamic culture and worldview, and publish them with a large circulation in order to teach the so-called selected method of thinking. In contrast, the author of this paper argues that Hayy Ibn Yaqzan is not a normal philosophical story and can, rather, be used as an inspiring model of philosophical story writing in the native Program of Philosophy and Children (P&C) in Iran provided that it is revised, rewritten, and modified to some extent. Of course, there are also many other philosophical stories among Persian philosophical and literary works that can be useful in this regard.