A Critical Study of Relativism in Matthew Lipmann's Theory of Education
Ghasem Purhasan, Fatemeh Sadr
Relativism turns out to be one of the outcomes of Matthew Lipmann's theory of education in his philosophy for children. In this discussion various views and even contradictory views have been propounded. Lipmann himself and some of his advocates are of the view that philosophy for children neither in terms of content nor form will lead to relativism. Some other people argue that though the founders of this program deny such allegation but its outcomes bring in its wake a kind of relativism. Through analytic-descriptive method the authors of this article seek to answer the following questions: Will the program of the philosophy for children as viewed by Matthew Lipmann lead to relativism? Here by relativism is meant epistemological relativism. Accordingly, axiological relativism which is one of the serious issues in this field will be excluded. The authors are of the view that basing this program on Lipmann's views may yield a kind of relativism.
Key words: philosophy for children (P4C), relativism, epistemological relativism, self- thinking
Children in Utopias: Training of Children in Reformers and Philosophers Utopias
Mikaeil Rasoul Zadeh
By utopia it means a society that enjoys certain political, economic, social, and educational structures; a society that can lead the maximum number of its members to maximum happiness. As a matter of fact, by writing utopian books, the authors are not aimed at erecting such utopia in their country or in other country. According to Plato, these works are considered to be just like patterns that all countries can benefit from them and following which attain their happiness. Utopianism first was developed by Plato and then other philosophers in the world of Islam and Christianity followed him. Here we are not going to deal with the well known figures in the field of utopian in the world, but rather intend to cast some light on the training of children in the utopia of reformers and philosophers. Based on the studies made on training, the signification of training has two meanings: general and particular meaning. Both meanings stress heavily on the importance of training of children and youth and consider it as a means of bringing about changes in a society. In this article the views of the Eastern and Western philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Farabi, Tomasho Kampalana, and Thomas More on the notion of utopia have been studied. Almost all of them followed the same universal and logical principle. In certain issues such as religion, man, and God there are certain differences between the Western and the Eastern utopias. To sum up, while spirituality and divinity constitute the gist of Eastern utopia, the Western utopia stresses on materiality and corporeality and this point is palpable in their training of children. On the whole, utopians strongly stress on education and training and look at training as a chief factor behind any peaceful social change.
Key Terms: training, child, utopia, reformer, philosopher
A Study of the Impact of Teaching Logical Thinking on the Social Confidence of Children
Sepideh Ensafi
Thinking constitutes the main element of cognition and offers possible solutions for man in his confrontation with problems. It also possesses certain elements (symbols and signs) on the basis of which man through education develops itself, recognizes its learning, and applies them as well. There are two kinds of oriented thinking: critical thinking and creative thinking. Critical thinking or logical thinking deals with assessment, improvement, change, and reconstruction of a problem and pertains to the higher levels of learning, namely analysis and synthesis.
With respect to the positive impact of teaching philosophy on children and learning on the basis of critical and logical thinking, the present work proceeds to study the teaching of logical thinking to children and the process of gaining social confidence. The methodology of this study is theoretical and deductive and analytic. Moreover deductive studies constitute the basis of this methodology.
Key Terms: logical thought, critical thought, social confidence, children
Philosophy and Children's Rights
Mohammad Hosein Fazaili
Maturity is a period of life that divides human life into two parts: the first part consists in childhood that ranges from the embryonic life and ends up in maturity. This period enjoys its own rules and rights including the right of life, the right of education, and subordination as adumbrated in the religion. The second period marks the period of responsibility and is indeed the continuation of a movement or is a kind of turning point and every man in the course of his life will enjoy vindication of rights. This issue changed into a controversial issue among the jurists in the case of girls. With reference to certain traditions (riwayah) some people consider 9 as the age of maturity, while some others oppose this view and argue that such verdicts are not compatible with the facts and consider 13 as the age of maturity. Again there are some other people who consider such criminal liability in such period of life as the violation of human rights and stress on 18 as the age of maturity. The author of the present article seeks to substantiate the popular view. Drawing on some philosophical presuppositions he considers it as a natural phenomenon and is of the view that it is for jurists to unveil it. The opposing view also have been criticized and considered it as against the rights of child.
Key Terms: childhood, maturity, natural passion, responsibility
The Impact of Thoughtful Stories on the Growth of Social Skills of Pre-school Children of Rasht City
Mustafa Hedayati
The aim of this research work is to study the impact of thoughtful stories on the growth of social skills of pre-school children of Rasht city. For this purpose two pre-schools have been selected causally. The number of each class student is twenty and one class is subsumed under evidence and the other one under test. Then by social skills questionnaire of Cartilage and Melbourne the variable of social growth of student will be assessed. Before the implementation of the plan there was no meaningful difference between the social growths of two groups. Then students of the group test underwent teaching thoughtful stories following research group for twelve weekly sessions in forty minutes. The result came out as: the implementation of this program is effective in the social growth of students. This study was an applied study, that is, it enjoyed semi empirical method. Moreover, this research work was tentative before and after the test of the student. The result of this research was compatible with the findings of research scholars inside and outside the country.
Key Terms: thoughtful stories, research community, social skills, program of teaching, philosophy to children
Pathology of Attending to Children's Rights in Iran and the World
Masumeh Mudawwar
The violation of children's rights in the developing countries are mostly rooted in poverty, while in the West moral problems and feebleness of family foundations are responsible for the rise of such problem. In spite of all these facts, the West always put pressure on the third world countries for their violation of children's rights. Attending to children's rights is not a matter of present societies, but in Islam also it enjoys a particular place (respecting children, banning people from any kind of violation, discrimination and misconduct against children, and persuading them to do justice to children). This work follows a qualitative approach, that is, avoiding any hypothesis making approach but follows an analytic-descriptive method in order to find out a response to the questions concerning the basis and weak points of children's rights in Iran and the World. At the end, following a qualitative analysis it is concluded that keeping in view the particular situation of children, namely their physical and spiritual situations; they should be taken under particular protection and supervision. With respect to their weakness they should be protected in a way to be able to achieve their rights and the elder also should take this fact into account.
Key Terms: rights, child, human rights, social education, respect, discrimination
Teaching Children Curriculum from the Perspective of Neo-conceptualist Philosophers
Saeed Roomani
The present article aims at studying teaching children curriculum from the perspective of neo-conceptualist philosophers and the method of this work is deductive-analytic following which all relevant evidences have been studied in order to respond to the questions posed in the work. With respect to the questions of the work, the results are as follows: from the perspective of neo-conceptualist philosophy, children are considered to be as the creators of meanings. They are exactly members of a society, so it is necessary to take into account their experiences, thoughts, feelings, dreams, their ways of communication, valuations, and behaviors. Indeed, activities outside and inside the schools should be compatible with each other. According to this school of thought, knowledge enjoys various aspects and all aspects should be studied and this process will bring in its wake new forms of knowledge. Of course, this is possible through stressing on the destruction of certain boundaries and creating new conditions. In the views of philosophers like Plato, Augustine, and John Dewy we can see the importance of training children for bringing about changes in a society.
Key Terms: curriculum, child, neo-conceptualist philosophy