Philosophy education is the practice of teaching and learning philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 as well as the research about it. It is not philosophy of education

Philosophy of education

Philosophy of education can refer to either the academic field of applied philosophy or to one of any educational philosophies that promote a specific type or vision of education, and/or which examine the definition, goals and meaning of education....

.

Philosophy education around the world

Education in the subject is usually divided into 4 main stages: pre-school (i.e. pre-primary; e.g. kindergarten) and primary education levels (e.g. elementary school), lower (e.g. middle school) and upper secondary education level (e.g. high school), tertiary (higher) education level (e.g. college, university), and post-tertiary education level. Sometimes the stage referred to as "post-secondary non-tertiary" is also included (in a fashion similar to the ISCED

ISCED

The International Standard Classification of Education is classification structure for organizing information on education and training maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization...

 levels).
Not all countries provide study of philosophy at all levels and in many the subject is virtually absent from the entire curriculum.

English-speaking countries (Anglosphere)

In the United States of America philosophy is not generally taught at pre-college level. However, through the movements of Critical thinking

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...

 and Philosophy for Children

Philosophy for Children

Philosophy for Children, sometimes abbreviated to P4C, is a movement that aims to teach reasoning and argumentative skills to children. There are also related methods sometimes called "Philosophy for Young People" or "Philosophy for Kids". Often the hope is that this will be a key influence in the...

 aspects of philosophy teaching have entered the curriculum. In the United Kingdom it is possible to do A-levels in philosophy.

Continental Europe

In many other European countries philosophy is part of the high school curriculum, for example in Austria, Croatia, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy and Poland. In Germany the subject ethics has been introduced in more and more parts since the 1970s. In Croatia the subject ethics can be taken instead of religious education which mainly focuses on Catholic tradition. University-level philosophy courses are widespread and are usually thought to have the longest tradition in the subject due to the historical ascription for the invention of philosophy as a separate discipline to the philosophers of Ancient Greece.
Despite this, interest in the subject in most of Europe seems to be on a relative decline.

Africa and the Middle East

Philosophy education has a long tradition in some of the Arab states. According to a UNESCO-led poll, philosophy is taught at secondary level in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Qatar, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia and Yemen. In most Arab countries the subject is taught at university (higher education) level. However, there are exceptions, like Oman and Saudi Arabia, where philosophy is entirely absent at most educational levels.

Asia

Philosophy education is traditionally available in most of Asia since the continent gave birth to the schools of Eastern philosophy

Eastern philosophy

Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Iranian philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Indian philosophy and Korean philosophy...

. The 20th and early 21st century saw the increased interest in the field (especially in Western philosophy

Western philosophy

Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies....

) in the Asian continent, with India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and especially South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 as major contemporary academic and research hubs. However, broad regional and interstate differences apply.

Theoretical approaches to philosophy education

Theoretical questions concerning the teaching of philosophy in school have been debated at least since Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. The modern debate in Germany in the 1970s gave rise to two competing approaches: the more traditional, text-oriented approach by Wulff D. Rehfus and the more modern, dialogue-oriented approach by Ekkehard Martens. Newer approaches have been developed by Karel van der Leeuw and Pieter Mostert as well as Roland W. Henke. A similar divide between traditionalists and modernists is to be found in France, with the proponents Jacques Muglioni and Jacqueline Russ on the one side and France Rollin and Michel Tozzi on the other. In Italy, philosophy education is traditionally historically oriented in the sense of history of ideas.
Theoretical problems of philosophy education at college and university level are discussed in articles in the journal Teaching Philosophy

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching Philosophy is a peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to the practical and theoretical discussion of teaching and learning philosophy, that is philosophy education. The journal was established in 1975 by Arnold Wilson, and has published over 2,500 articles and reviews in this field...

.

Didactic methods

Among the didactic methods in philosophy are the Socratic method

Socratic method

The Socratic method , named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas...

 and Hermeneutics. The pedagogic side of philosophy teaching is also of note to researchers in the field and philosophers of education.

Journals

• Teaching Philosophy
• American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Teaching
• Diotime Revue internationale de didactique de la philosophie

Further reading

• Martens, Ekkehard, Dialogisch-pragmatische Philosophiedidaktik, Hannover: Schroedel, 1979.
• Rehfus, Wulff D., Didaktik der Philosophie. Grundlage und Praxis, Berlin: Cornelsen, 1980.
• Rollin, France, L’éveil philosophique – Apprendre à philosopher, UNAPEC, 1982.
• Rehfus, Wulff D., und Horst Becker (eds.), Handbuch des Philosophie-Unterrichts, Düsseldorf: Schwann, 1986.
• Tozzi, Michel, Penser par soi-même. Initiation à la philosophie, Chronique Sociale Lyon, 1994. (Spanish translation 2008)
• Kasachkoff, Tziporah, (ed.), Teaching Philosophy: Theoretical Reflections and Practical Suggestions, Rowman and Littlefields Publishers, 2004.
• UNESCO (various authors), Philosophy: A School of Freedom. Teaching philosophy and learning to philosophize: Status and prospects., UNESCO Human Security, Democracy and Philosophy Section, Social and Human Sciences Sector, Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2007.
• Pfister Jonas, Fachdidaktik Philosophie, Bern: Haupt Verlag, 2010.