Philosophy in Training
As I read my daughter’s end of term report last week, I was interested to see how she was doing in a new subject: ‘Philosophy for Children’. The subject, which is now being taught in a number of primary schools, aims to improve children’s reasoning, critical thinking and creativity and is all part of what is termed ‘inquiry-led’ learning.
It’s a means of opening up children to different ideas of different values, realise that they don’t always have to be right, and gives them the confidence to learn through discussion.
It’s not just children, of course, who could benefit from a renewed focus on philosophy. Philosophy has a central role to play in training too, going as far back to the Greeks.
The Socratic method, named after the Greek philosopher Socrates, for example, has had a huge impact on modern-day training, where individuals with opposing viewpoints stimulate dialogue and critical thinking through the asking and answering of questions. Numerous training facilitators today use this approach as a means of encouraging participants to reflect critically on their own way of doing things.
Then, there is Aristotle and the Peripatetic school, an informal body where individuals conducted philosophical and scientific inquiry and discourse. The term: ‘peripatetic’ was adopted due to Aristotle's habit of strolling up and down the shaded walks around the Lyceum while in discussion with his pupils. Today, peripatetic trainers – trainers who move from one location to another – are a central part of many companies’ L&D strategies, particularly in those organisations which are regionally dispersed but where there needs to be a consistency to training.
And the list goes on... Plato and the dialectic method which continued on the themes of the Socratic method, and the use of logos (logical discourse), pathos (an appeal to the audience’s emotions) and ethos (the idea of character) in today’s teaching. I challenge you to find one training interaction which doesn’t use these tools.
So just as children are benefitting from philosophy and the exploration of ideas, it’s clear that there’s a strong application to trainers and L&D departments as well.
The subject of Children’s Philosophy is proving a great learning experience for both me and my daughter!
