Corrupting Youth

Peter Worley is the co-CEO and co-founder of the registered charity The Philosophy Foundation. He is also a Visiting Research Associate at King’s College London and an author of many books on doing philosophy in schools and questioning in classrooms.

Corrupting Youth is a fresh, dynamic and engaging book, enriched by Peter Worley’s experience in schools and enlivened by his great capacity for story-telling. With this two-volume compendium, Worley introduces the foundational principles of Philosophical Enquiry (PhiE): both theoretical (its roots in Ancient Hellenistic philosophy, especially Socrates and Heraclitus) and practical (the skilled facilitation of dialectical philosophical enquiry). Worley has written a book that is erudite, expansive and warmly encouraging. Accessible to philosophers and teachers alike, it contains so much of value, including the four components of philosophizing (responsive, reflective, reasoned and re-evaluative); the Greek concepts of logos and flux; the eight core values of PhiE, especially dissent, oracy, and friendship; and the session plans. Whatever your current approach to pre-college philosophy education, reading this book will only enhance it.

• Foreword PrefaceA little backgroundAcknowledgementsIntroduction to PhiEPart One: Philosophy and dialecticWhat is philosophy?Philosophy as conversationThe 4 ‘R’sLogos and fluxAmbivalence: Two-eyed thinkingThe reason for reason in philosophyPhilo-Sophia and the love of learningAnd to the children?A word about right and wrong answers in philosophyDialecticThe origins of dialecticHeraclitusThe dialectical effect: thinking flows like a riverSocratesPlatoAspects of Platonic dialecticCorrespondence to PhiETwo dialectics in Plato’s ParmenidesAristotleAristotle and PhiECommunity of EnquiryPart Two: Core values of PhiEAncient core values of PhiEExploration and discovery DissentAutonomyInquiry/EnquiryAn open, questioning mind-setFriendshipFriendship: xenia and knowing thyselfExcellenceExcellence and competition: the paradox of SocratesOracyOracy: Aoidos Oracy: small ‘d’ and big ‘D’ dialecticsPart Three: pedagogical principles of PhiEA sensitive methodA descriptive approachPhilosophical maturity: was Plato wrong?CapabilityInterest and engagementThe need for conditionsThe conditionsIdeal speech situationsClassroom culturePhiE begins with intuitionsWithin and without: is PhiE democratic?Truth and knowledgeOwnershipTwo keystone principles in PhiE: Absence and Open Questioning MindsetAbsence and PresenceSocrates’ midwifery principleFrom withinOpen Questioning Mindset Guess what’s in my headProblematisationBlocking‘Guess what’s in your head’ and intentional sensitivityTwo aims of PhiE: dialectic and inclusionSocratic irony and questioning mindsetsIn summaryBibliography About the author