“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.” – Lewis Carroll Materials needed: Computer (and projector if possible) to show video clip, paper and writing utensil, white board and dry erase marker or chalkboard and chalk Activity: Part 1: Play Video Clip Part 2: Ask students to write a list of 5 things … Imagining New Realities
Materials needed: Lesson plan (warm-ups, story, and game) Space for participants to form opposing groups Description: Before presenting participants with the thought experiment, engage them in at least one warm-up. For first time philosophers and/or for longer class periods, warm-up using the “Philosophy Warm-Up” prompts. If the group has already developed basic ideas about the … Identity Activity: What makes you, you?
Mountain goats are not native to Olympic National Park. They were introduced into Olympic Peninsula in the 1930s to encourage an increase of tourism via hunting. Shortly after, Olympic National Park was established. Under Park jurisdiction, hunting of any kind is forbidden, so the mountain goats placed there were protected. Olympic National Park is now … Conflicting Values in Environmental Ethics – The Mountain Goat Dilemma
This lesson revolves around reading and discussing Carl Sagan’s “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection” and then sending students to Snopes.com to explore the large archive of hoaxes, crazes and fake news stories. Website Resource for Fact-Checking Snopes.com has become an indispensable and entertaining site for assessing the status of the urban legends and fake … Snooping Around Snopes: Assessing Fake News
Step One: Distinguishing Wants and Needs Give the students a worksheet with the following questions: 1. What are some things you want? 2. What are some things you need? 3. What is the difference between what you want and what you need? 4. Do all people have the same wants? 5. Do all people have … Wants versus Needs Exercise
This is an exercise that works well in the weeks just before the winter holiday break. Start with an anecdote about receiving a gift that is disappointing and not feeling particularly grateful. You can use an example from real life, but it also works to make something up or think of an example from a … Thinking About Gratitude
Ethics Warm-up #1: Think of someone you know who you think is a really good person. What makes that person a good person? Warm-up #2: Think of something that’s pretty good. Now think of something that’s better than pretty good, that’s good. Now think of something that’s better than that, that’s really good. Think of … A Range of Warm-Up Activities for Philosophy Sessions
Part 1: What is the difference between Truth, a Lie and Bullshit? Students should begin by writing brief definitions of these words –> WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? TRUTH, LIE, SATIRE/ JOKE, FICTION, MISTAKE, BULLSHIT (or, politely, BS) After 10 minutes, discuss how these concepts overlap and differ from each other. It is important to get to the point where the … Truth, Lies and Bullshit
In his article, “What is it like to be a bat?” Thomas Nagel argues that there are facts about conscious experience that are subjective and can only be known from that subjective perspective. Even if we know all the objective facts about bats, we may not actually know what it would really be like to … Nagel’s What is it like to be a bat?
Can a computer think? John Searle’s Chinese Room argument can be used to argue that computers do not “think,” that computers do not understand the symbols that they process. For example, if you’re typing an email to your friend on the computer, the computer does not understand what your message to your friend means. This … Searle’s Chinese Room: Do computers think?
PLATO is part of a global UNESCO network that encourages children to participate in philosophical inquiry. As a partner in the UNESCO Chair on the Practice of Philosophy with Children, based at the Université de Nantes in France, PLATO is connected to other educational leaders around the world.
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