Big Questions at a Young Age: Philosophy For Children (P4C)

Yağmur Özge  Uğurelli

doi:10.37609/akya.4191

Yazarlar

Yağmur Özge Uğurelli

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6645-6156

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37609/akya.4191.c11638

Özet

This chapter examines Philosophy for Children (P4C) as an educational approach that connects children’s search for meaning, curiosity, questioning, and dialogic inquiry. It first discusses meaning-making as a fundamental human concern and emphasizes that children, like adults, may experience uncertainty and the need to understand the world. Curiosity is presented as a central developmental force that activates observation, exploration, questioning, and learning. Within this framework, P4C is positioned as a pedagogical model that transforms children’s natural curiosity into a structured process of philosophical inquiry. The chapter explains the emergence of P4C through Matthew Lipman’s work and situates the approach within Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy, reflective thinking, democratic education, and the community of inquiry model. P4C is described as a holistic educational practice that develops critical, creative, caring, and collaborative thinking. In this model, the classroom becomes a dialogic community where children generate questions, justify ideas, listen to others, compare viewpoints, and construct shared meaning. The chapter also discusses the relationship between P4C and children’s literature. Literary texts, stories, picture books, and other stimuli make abstract philosophical problems accessible through concrete characters, conflicts, and narrative situations. In addition, the chapter outlines the aims, learning outcomes, session components, and implementation stages of P4C. Two sample practices based on folktales illustrate how P4C can be applied to moral philosophy and philosophy of being. Overall, the chapter frames P4C as a systematic approach that supports children’s thinking, meaning-making, and democratic dialogue.

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