Overview

Philosophical activity contributes to a flourishing life by helping us to develop a sense of ourselves and the world around us through reflection on our beliefs and values. Our aim is to promote philosophy in various parts of the community through seminars, consultations, and targeted outreach initiatives.

The best way to understand and appreciate philosophical inquiry is to engage in it. As we see it, philosophy is a contact sport. Ludwig Wittgenstein put it this way: "Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity." The UNC-Chapel Hill Philosophy Department is therefore engaged in an outreach effort to promote the presence of philosophical activity in the Triangle community.

Primary and Secondary Schools (K-12) Initiatives

Young people are natural philosophers; it is important to introduce them to philosophy when their minds are still infused with an open, questioning spirit. Therefore, we hope to work with administrators and teachers in area public and private schools, to help bring the world of ideas into primary and secondary level education. This initiative, begun in late summer 2004, has already borne fruit.

The UNC-Chapel Hill Philosophy Department has one main resource - people with experience teaching philosophy. Here are some examples of past and present Outreach collaborations:

Cary Academy:

During the 2005-2006 academic year we began facilitating philosophical discussion groups in collaboration with the Cary Academy Philosophy Club and Philosophy Club faculty sponsor, Donna Newell. On selected Fridays we joined the club and interested faculty members at Cary Academy for lunch. We discussed various topics over pizza, including the problem of evil and the problem of free will. This year (2007-2008), we are continuing this activity, which we now call “phunch” (philosophy and lunch). In addition, we plan to host a writing workshop with the club this spring. Topics this year will include moral responsibility, moral realism and anti-realism, and the nature of the mind.

Durham Academy:

With teacher Eric Teagarden, we helped to construct a syllabus for a course called "Ethics: Essay and Analysis" in 2006. This semester-long course for second-semester seniors began with some work on critical thinking and informal logic. The skills developed in that section were then applied during the remainder of the course, in which students explored various ethical theories through consideration of some classic texts and ethical dilemmas. Visitors to the class, including a police officer and an assistant athletic director, presented real-world ethical problems of various sorts. As a general introduction to philosophical thinking, students also read the novel, Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder. Our Department was involved in the classroom by teaching the critical thinking section, and helping with later portions on ethics.

This spring (2008), we are teaching two sections of an "Introduction to Philosophy" course. This course will introduce various branches of philosophy through consideration of some classic and contemporary texts ranging from works in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind to ethics and political philosophy. Our Department developed the curriculum for this course in collaboration with Mr. Teagarden. We will be helping teach this course once a week for ten weeks.

McDougle Middle School:

With teacher Robin Johnston, we developed a 'cluster' program for middle-schoolers, called "Living the Good Life." Students explored and reflected on beauty, health, fun, love, morality, spirituality and other elements that might contribute to a full and flourishing life. Among other activities, we visited an art museum, attended a yoga class, and visited UNC Hospitals. The cluster program took place every Friday afternoon for eight weeks in the spring of 2005. Our Department was also involved in the in-class teaching of this course.

During the Fall semesters of 2005 and 2006, we developed and helped teach a "Philosophical Values Debate" unit for the speech class at McDougle Middle School in collaboration with teacher Chris Harkey. After teaching the students the skills required for a Loncoln-Douglas style debate, we assisted Ms. Harkey in developing philosophically interesting topics and in arranging an inter-class debate tournament. Topics included "the benefits of science" and "the constitutionality of the right to bear arms." We also modeled "good" and "bad" debates, which were recorded for future use. We plan to continue this project in the future.

The Hawbridge School (formerly New Century Charter High School):

With teacher Bill Hoffman, we developed a short course on ethics for the 2005-2006 academic year. The course was designed to promote philosophical reflection on values among high school students. Students focused mainly on a series of thought experiments taken from the wonderful "What If … Collected Thought Experiments in Philosophy," by Peg Tittle.

In 2006-2007, we developed and taught four 5-week units in collaboration with the school's director, Dr. Marcia Huth, and faculty members representing various departments. the units are "Philosophy of Science," "Environmental Property Rights," and "Philosophy of Mathematics." Each week we gave a brief introductory lecture and then facilitate a productive philosophical discussion. We will return to the Hawbridge School in the fall of 2008.

East Chapel Hill High School:

In 2006, we began conducting philosophy workshops with the East Chapel Hill High School Lincoln-Douglas debate team. Two to three times a semester we develop a brief introductory lecture and a discussion plan directed at the topic the students are currently debating. We then, with the help of the students, compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of various competing theories. Workshop topics have included "Theories of Justice" and "The Right to Self-Defense."

North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM):

Each year, NCSSM hosts a one-day conference on ethics and leadership. In 2004, four members of our Department took part in the conference as facilitators of discussion sections on a variety of ethical topics (including euthanasia, affirmative action, abortion, and other topics). We plan to renew our affiliation with NCSSM in the fall of 2008.

PlayMakers Repertory Company

With support from the UNC Parr Center for Ethics, we coordinated with the PlayMakers Repertory Company to visit NCSSM and other area schools to discuss the moral responsibility of scientists, as part of an educational effort in conjunction with the production of Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen.

C. A. Dillion Youth Development Center:

In 2006, we began facilitating discussion groups at the C.A. Dillon Youth Development Center in collaboration with the Center's chaplain, Sandra McKeown. Once a week for approximately eight weeks, we facilitated discussions of classic philosophical problems, such as the problem of free will and the Gettier problem. During the final meeting of the group, we conducted a philosophy conference. At the conference, group members presented their own ideas and were asked questions and given comments by their peers. We facilitated two sections of this eight-week discussion group in the spring of 2007.

Other projects are also in various stages of completion. As these examples show, we are willing to be involved in a variety of ways. We see ourselves as a resource to educators; we try to work within constraints they set to help make something positive happen in the classroom. Our involvement can be minimal - as a sounding-board for ideas - or more significant - as shown by the examples above.

Our outreach coordinators in the past were Piers Turner, Clair Morrissey, Emily Kelahan, and Cathay Liu. In 2008-2009 our outreach coordinator will be Felipe De Brigard. Faculty Advisors are Geoffrey Sayre-McCord and Jan Boxill. We are a part of the Carolina Center for Public Service.

Our outreach coordinator, Felipe De Brigard, will put teachers in touch with specialists who can consult with them on theoretical issues or discuss practical aspects of teaching philosophy. We can help teachers devise lesson plans and classroom activities, or develop strategies to promote critical debate and thoughtful discussion. We can teach a short course on logical reasoning over a week; lead group debates on ethical topics during a single class period; discuss classic philosophical works or philosophical literature; run role-playing games to elucidate themes from rational choice theory; help students to reflect on scientific method and the sources of knowledge, and more.

Philosophy can appear in a variety of ways in a curriculum, even where you least expect it. Programs can be put together for any number of issues, where philosophical questions loom just below the surface.

Contact Information

We very much welcome ideas for how to expand and improve this initiative. If you have something to suggest, or if you are a school administrator or teacher with an interest in philosophy, please contact Felipe De Brigard. He can be reached via email at brigard@email.unc.edu or phone at (919) 259-8114.

Useful Links

1. The home page for the excellent journal, Questions: Philosophy for Young People. Two issues are available online.

2.The High School Philosophy Website Project at the University of Toronto. Teaching resources and links. In Ontario, philosophy is a standard part of the secondary school curriculum.

3.The Open Directory Project page for philosophy for children. Links to many other sites.

4. Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) A center at Monclair State University with a host of resources, including subscription information for its journal, Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children.

These efforts are supported by the UNC-Chapel Hill Philosophy Department, The Parr Center for Ethics, and by Dr. Susan Wolf, Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, as a result of her Distinguished Achievement Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.