Philosophy Groups P4C
On this page you will find ideas for setting up a philosophy group and for tips on how to take part in a ‘community of enquiry’.
First set up your group. This could be in the classroom, a school club, an online group (following internet safety guidelines), a community group club, or informal meetings with friends. All that matters is that you are all interested in philosophy – that is, thinking deeply and broadly about important and interesting questions.
Here is the P4C approach, called an ‘enquiry’.
- Sit in a circle, or where you can all see each other.
- Make sure everyone feels friendly and relaxed.
- Agree that you will all respect each others’ rights to have different views, even if you disagree with them.
- Agree that everyone gets equal chances to speak – you may have a special signal, or the speaker holds a pebble – and you don’t interrupt.
- It’s not always easy to hold your thoughts in your mind and you should always try to connect with what the last speaker has been saying. It may help to jot down what is being said so you can see the chain of ideas developing.
- Sometimes an enquiry starts with a picture, a poem, or a story or film extract. Or it can be a question, like the ones I suggest for Cauldron of Rebirth.
- Try to use philosophical language such as, ‘I agree (or disagree) because…’ or ‘the reason I think this is …’
- You may find that at the end of the enquiry your viewpoint has changed, or that you can see someone else’s point of view much better. That’s good – there are no fixed answers.
- You may also feel a tingling of excitement in your mind. That’s because brains like philosophy, it’s a kind of food to them.
Let me know of any great enquiries you’ve been having!
Extra: some enquiries begin with a stimulus (picture, poem, story extract, leading question, film clip) and then there is paired discussion. The pairs say what has most interested them and what questions they have come up with. The teacher or facilitator writes down all the questions and ideas, and then the whole group votes on which question they want to take on for their debate. This system works well in classrooms.
This is the system described in Chapter 15 of ‘ Cauldron of Rebirth’.
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