Provocations: Philosophy for Secondary School

by David Birch, Peter Worley

This book is ideal for teachers in secondary schools, whether they are trained in philosophy for children or just experimenting with the subject. It will help teachers to present ideas and stimulate discussions which both accommodate and engage adolescent appetites. Are human beings flawed? Is murder an act of insanity or just plain thoughtless? Do we need a soul? From the fall of Icarus to the rise of Caesar this practical book draws upon history, philosophy and literature to provoke students to think, question and wonder. Divided into chapters on The World, Self, Society and Others, this resource for secondary school is written to give teachers the means to listen rather than teach and to allow the ideas and thoughts of students to form the centre of the lesson. It raises questions on the nature of evil, belief in God, slavery, consumerism, utopia, the limits of freedom, and a whole lot more. With a clear introductory outline on its use both in and out of the classroom, Provocations also contains tips and advice to help guide teachers to span the curriculum. Applicable to history, geography, science, art, English and citizenship it offers teachers of all subjects the opportunity to introduce a student-centered approach to their lessons. There is also an extensive bibliography for those who wish to explore the topics discussed.

306 pages, Hardcover

First published February 27, 2014

Reviews

[Joeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and convincing introduction to what philosophy in education should aspire to, with a lot of thought provoking lessons afterwards.

Really useful in my classes.

[Mr Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much study is actually 'a history of'. As an undergraduate, my study of both literature and philosophy was nearly always a history of literature and a history of philosophy. You'd work your way forward from Chaucer or Heraclitus, plotting your path through the canon, so that you could successfully chart the key points of 'interest' to do with these writers and thinkers in exams, and successfully sound educated at dinner parties in your middle age.

Okay, that's sweeping and unfair, but I would still have loved to have encountered Provocations back then. Instead of informing about philosophies or philosophers in an abstract way, this book just gets on with the task of initiating philosophical discourse.

It does this by firstly presenting you with a short, concrete introduction to an idea. These ideas consider the world around us ('it'), the self ('I'), society ('we') and others ('you'), and include musings on madness, privacy, death, freedom, power, torture, language... I could go on; there are over fifty of them.

To give a flavour of this process, there is a terrific opener on the subject of animals where we are given a vivid description of the slaughter of a cow ('once she is fastened into place, a gun will be pointed at her head and a steel bolt will be fired into her skull...'), after which we get to consider, amongst other things, whether or not the story is manipulative, whether or not moral arguments should be settled with reason, whether or not we learn what is right and wrong through reason, whether or not stories can be arguments, whether or not animals have emotions ('of course animals are living, but do they have lives?') and, ultimately, whether or not it's wrong to eat animals.

This is a straightforward way of learning philosophy by doing philosophy, and it is invigorating. If you're intellectually curious enough and willing to really listen to others and really talk to others, this book will aid the deepening of your awareness of the world and yourself.