This paper is based on a literature review of articles discussing the teaching and learning of philosophy in primary and secondary schools. The purpose of this review was to address two research questions: What is philosophy? What does philosophy do? This paper addresses the first research question-What is philosophy?-by gathering together the various understandings of the word 'philosophy' circulating in the literature. There are ten understandings of what philosophy is that have arisen from the literature: philosophy as a foundational concept; philosophy as thinking-a skill, a disposition, a practice; philosophy as method or process; philosophy as a tool or instrument; philosophy as a creative task; philosophy as inquiry; philosophy as search for truth; philosophy as non-dogmatic teaching and hence the emancipation of thought; philosophy as communal activity; philosophy as a way of life. These ten understandings have been consistent over time, from writing in the field in the 1970s through to the present day. Many commentators hold and work with multiple understandings of what philosophy is in their writing. What is philosophy?
This paper is based on a literature review of articles discussing the teaching and learning of philosophy in primary and secondary schools. The purpose of this review was to address two research questions: What is philosophy? What does philosophy do? This paper addresses the second question-What does philosophy do?-by gathering together research that focuses on and discusses the impact of philosophy in the classroom. Two distinct claims emerge from the literature. The first claim is that philosophy improves academic and cognitive abilities, where the idea of 'cognition' is captured by forms of reasoning that can be tested and measured. The evidence for improvement in academic and cognitive abilities takes the form of IQ scores, Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) and school academic assessments, including norm-referenced tests of reading, reasoning, and other curriculum-related assessments. The second claim is that engaging with the world philosophically promotes the art of living well together. It is argued that philosophical engagement is a collaborative endeavour, aimed at cultivating understanding through respectful interactions that are open to exploring, questioning and challenging aspects of the world. The outcome of engaging in philosophical conversations is personal and social transformation.
The communication was illustrated by nine Drawings, Nos. 4026 to 4029, and 4336 to 4340, showing the various applications of the machine ; and Mr. J. Woods presented impressions of plates 19 A and 19 B for the Minutes of Proceedings.Mr. R. STEPHENSON said, that at a previous meeting he had made some remarks on this machine, on the supposition of its analogy to Watt's Governor; he had, however, found on close inspection of its mechanical arrangements, that the ball and rod were allowed to rotate, entirely independent of the velocity of the engine, and therefote to be governed strictly according to the laws of pendulous motion : it Wd8 therefore, he perceived, totally different from Watt's Governor, which consisted of rotating weights attached to levers, and which being governed by the laws of centrifugal motion, consequently required considerable alteration of speed, and an interval of time, before they could act upon the throttle-valve. This Chronometric Governor, on the contrary, was extremely delicate, and appreciated the slightest variation of speed, between the engine and the pendulum, and bp means of a differential wheel, imparted immediate adjustment to the throttle-valve, which continued in the altered condition, until a further change of load tended to vary the speed of the engine ; it consequently became a very valuable instrument, where regularity of speed was important, as in grinding grain, spinning, &C., and as an ingenious contrivance, he thought it sell worthy of the attention of the mechanical world.Mr. J. WOODS observed, that in explaining the mode of action of
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