Philosophy Through Storytelling

Pauline Purcell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351703383
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This is an accessible beginners manual with all you need to run philosophy groups with children or adults. Whether you work with school pupils, students or adults, philosophy offers the opportunity to develop thinking skills that have both personal and academic application. This practical manual contains detailed guidance and a set of short stories for running philosophy groups. It is ideal for use in schools, the sessions can be used in a variety of environments, and with participants of all ages from five to 95. In each session, the participants start with a warm-up, examine a key stimulus, generate questions from that stimulus, agree to focus on one question and share, and challenge and develop views on that question. Finally they consider how well the process went, warm-down and end the session. Using this approach to philosophy is an excellent way to challenge thinking and to encourage interaction, as some participant responses show: 'It's much more worth listening to than I expected', 'It is great to hear what others think and believe', and 'I feel I know the people in my group much better'. This title is particularly ideal for schools using the P4C (Philosophy for Children) method and for adult special needs group leaders. This accessible manual helps you to introduce philosophy to your group and will change how you and your students think about themselves and others.

The Stories

These stories are intended to provide your group with a starting point for an enquiry. They are therefore brief enough to be read in a very short time, and for participants to be able to scan the text for question opportunities within the context of a P4C session. Most are retold or recast from familiar sources, with a bias in the narrative towards raising unanswered questions.

In using the stories, it would be good to have the chosen story projected on to a whiteboard in the room, or for enough copies to be printed off for there to be one between three participants. The suggested questions at the end of each story should not be displayed or circulated; they are a fall-back option for prompting a struggling group to produce its own line of questioning.

The stories have been arranged in approximate order of age appeal and comprehension difficulty, beginning with material that is very simple in content and moving to the more complex. Group leaders should not be bound in any way by this arrangement, but should make a choice according to their own judgement of what will engage their group. The real differentiation arises from the kinds of questions that the group is able to derive from the material used.

1 The New Puppy

Lee and Jordan were twins. It was their fifth birthday, and to their delight, Grandma and Grandad gave them a puppy. The puppy was a wriggly, round black and white baby sheepdog. They named him Ben.

‘Take good care of Ben’, said Grandad, ‘make sure he has plenty of water to drink, and feed him every morning and every evening.’

‘And remember that he is only a baby’, added Grandma, ‘he needs lots of sleep and gentleness. He will be more fun when he grows a bit bigger.’

‘Yes, Grandad, yes Grandma,’ replied the twins, ‘we will take good care of him.’

At first, Lee helped Mum to feed Ben every morning and Jordan helped every evening.

If Ben was sleepy, they left him alone to let him rest, and if he wanted to play, they played gentle games. Everything was going well.

Then Jordan stopped helping Mum feed the puppy. ‘I’ll come in a minute,’ Jordan would say, but stayed watching TV instead.

When the puppy was sleepy, Lee let him rest, but Jordan would sometimes tease him and try to make him play, which made the puppy a bit snappy.

At playtime, Lee was still gentle with the puppy, but Jordan sometimes got too rough with Ben, which frightened the little dog.

One day, Lee and Jordan came in from doing the grocery shopping with Dad. Ben ran to meet Lee wagging his little tail. Jordan called Ben to come to him but the puppy stayed where he was.

‘Dad,’ asked Jordan sadly, ‘why does Ben love Lee more than me?’

1 The New Puppy

Source: Original

There are themes here of kindness, unselfishness, consistency, love, trust and responsibility.

• What should Jordan do now, and why?

• What if Mummy had made Jordan come to help feed Ben?

• How will Lee feel about this situation and what should Lee do?

• Are Lee and Jordan boys or girls or one of each? Explore your reasons for what you decide.

• Were Grandma and Grandad right to give Ben to the twins? Why, or why not?

2 The Toy

Tom bought a new toy. He came back from town with his grown-up sister holding the big bright box very carefully.

Tom had never bought anything himself before, but he had saved up carefully until he had enough money for this special toy.

Tom knew that the toy was very special because he had seen it on the TV. In the adverts, it could fly all by itself and its owners felt like heroes, you could tell from the looks of excitement on the faces of the children on the screen.

The box looked great too, with pictures of the shining wonderful toy, doing the most amazing things. Tom could hardly wait to get it home and open it. In fact his sister had to stop him opening it on the bus.

When they got home, Tom sat down on the living room floor with his treasure and began to undo the sticky tape holding the box closed. Mum came in from the kitchen to watch.

At last the box was opening, Tom’s heart beat fast, soon he would be just like those happy boys and girls on TV.

What was this? The box contained several lumpy pieces of grey plastic which looked nothing like the pictures on the cover of the box, and some sheets of brightly coloured stickers. Tom’s heart stopped dancing and sank down into his shoes instead.

‘Mum, there’s been a mistake,’ he said.

2 The Toy

Source: Original

This story carries themes of expectation, perseverance, trust, influence, disappointment, dream versus reality, and advertising standards.

• What if Tom had been given the money rather than saving up for the toy?

• Do outside appearances always tell the truth?

• How should Mum try to help Tom now?

• Can we trust what we see on TV?

• Should toy manufacturers be allowed to sell unfinished toys?

3 Zoya’s Surprise

Zoya loved surprises. If Zoya had a present wrapped in shiny paper and tied with ribbon, she was very happy and opened her parcel as quickly as she could.

For a while, each new game or toy made her happy, but then their newness wore off. She got used to them and even a bit bored. ‘Daddy.’ she said, ‘why do my presents not keep me interested forever?’, but Daddy only listened and smiled kindly. ‘Mummy,’ said Zoya, ‘why do my presents not keep me interested forever?’, but Mummy only listened and smiled kindly too.

That night, when Zoya was asleep, Mummy and Daddy made a telephone call to Grandma in Pakistan. Zoya knew nothing about it.

A few weeks later, the postman brought a parcel. It had come all the way from Pakistan and it was addressed to Zoya.

Excitedly, Zoya tore off the brown paper, expecting to see shiny wrapping paper underneath; but there was only another layer of brown paper. Puzzled, Zoya opened this brown paper too. Inside was a battered old biscuit tin, bent and a bit rusty; but there was a bright, white label on the lid, written in Urdu.

‘What does it say, Daddy?’ asked Zoya.

‘It says, “Ask Mummy” teased Daddy, who was watching TV.

‘No, it doesn’t,’ laughed Zoya, ‘tell me.’

Daddy picked up the box, it rattled a bit as though something hard was inside. ‘The label says “Take good care of what you see inside and life will always be interesting”.’

Mummy came in from the bedroom, holding the baby. She said, ‘This parcel is not really a surprise to me, it is something I had when I was a little girl. Granny sent it because we asked her to, and I know that the whole family must open it together.’

So, with all the family looking over her shoulder, Zoya opened the battered tin box. Inside was a beautiful, polished metal mirror, with a richly decorated frame. Reflected in the centre were four smiling faces, looking into the mirror.

3 Zoya’s Surprise

Source: Original

This is an opportunity to think about values, family values in particular, about the transience of interest in new things, and about the attraction of the unknown.

• What if there were never any surprises?

• Why do we get bored? What does being bored mean?

• Why would Zoya’s family be more interesting than a new toy?

• How can people stay interesting?

• Did the fact that Mummy once owned the mirror make the present nicer? Why, or why not?

4 Polly’s Shoes

Polly had some new shoes; they were black, shiny, patent leather with ankle straps and she loved them. Polly wanted to wear them at once to walk home, but Mum and the shop assistant agreed that they might get scratched and put them carefully in their box for her to carry, while Polly wore the brown lace-up shoes in which she had come shopping.

Polly was three and too young to go to school, but she called her lace-up shoes her school shoes so as to be more like her big brother, who was five and did go to school.

When they got home, Polly had her old coat put on so that she could go and play in the garden. ‘I think I will wear my new shoes,’ she said.

‘Oh no,’ said Mum at once, ‘we are keeping them for best. You must wear your school shoes to play in the garden.’

Polly was really angry that she was not allowed to wear her new shoes. She went up the garden, to carry on digging a hole to Australia with the old garden trowel, but she was in a very bad temper indeed.

While she was digging, Polly had an idea. If her old shoes were lost, she would have to wear the new ones, wouldn’t she? She pulled off her brown shoes and tried burying them in the hole, but she thought they would be too easy to find. She tried hiding them in the hedge, but they were too easy to see.

The house next door had been empty for a very long time, and her brother had told her there were ghosts in it; so Polly’s next idea seemed to her to be very daring. She crept through a hole in the hedge and buried the shoes in the garden of the empty house. It was quite frightening and it also turned out to be much harder getting back than she expected.

Polly went inside to Mum wearing only her socks. ‘I shall have to wear my new shoes after all,’ she announced, ‘I’ve lost my school shoes.’

After that, nothing went the way she had planned. Mum and Grandma took Polly backup the garden and tried to make her tell them where the shoes had gone, but she would not. Then Polly had to stay in the house, while she watched Mum and Grandma searching the garden for the lost shoes.

‘Just you wait until your father gets home,’ said Mum, when she and Grandma gave up looking for the shoes. It was not the happy afternoon Polly had planned.

Dad was not pleased at all when he got home from work and heard what had happened. Polly was in big trouble from everyone now, so she decided to tell them what had happened to the shoes.

‘I buried them next door,’ she admitted to Dad.

‘Nonsense,’ said Mum, ‘she can’t reach the gate’.

‘I crawled through the hedge’ explained Polly and showed them the place. Much to her dismay, nobody believed that she could have crawled through the hedge there and, looking at the tiny hole, Polly, too, wondered how she had managed.

‘Come with me,’ ordered Dad, and he took Polly through the gate and into the empty house’s garden. ‘Show me where you buried them.’

The garden looked completely different when you came through the gate, and Polly was so muddled that she could not find the place where she buried the shoes. Dad was really cross with her, and tried to make her show him the place, but she could not remember at all.

‘The shoes are not there, Polly is a liar,’ announced Dad when they returned home.

In the days that followed, Polly did creep back into the garden a few more times but never could find the shoes.

In deep disgrace with everyone, Polly was taken back to the shoe shop, a few days later, to buy some more shoes for everyday wear. Even the shop assistant looked displeased with her. Polly was miserable, especially since everyone now thought she was a liar.

Many years later, a new neighbour found the shoes when digging his garden. ‘So you did bury them next door,’ said Mum and laughed.

4 Polly’s Shoes

Source: Original

The story deals with truthfulness, authority, consequences and anger.

• Should Polly have been allowed her own way over the shoes?

• Polly was three years old, so did she understand what she was doing?

• Why did the garden look different when Polly went through the gate?

• Was Dad right to call Polly a liar?

• Do you think the finding of the shoes made any difference?

5 The Little Rosebush

Once upon a time there was a little rosebush. She lived in a lovely garden, and was the loveliest thing in that garden. Her rosy stems supported glossy green leaves and delicate tiny thorns of deepest red. Her flowers were her crowning glory, being purest white with hearts and tips of palest gold. At night, in the moonlight, these flowers shone like silver, and by day, in sunlight, their hearts glowed like golden fire.

The Little Rosebush had many admirers, who gained pleasure just from seeing her, day by day. In fact the only inhabitant of the garden who seemed uninterested in the Little Rosebush was a Busy Brown Hen, who seemed wholly taken up with the business of feeding her family.

One sleepy afternoon, a white butterfly visited the Rosebush and laid one white egg on a leaf before fluttering away. Nobody noticed, nobody at all.

So it was that three weeks later, a green caterpillar hatched in the night and began munching steadily at the Little Rosebush’s leaves. It ate and ate. The Little Rosebush was horrified; she tried to shake off the green caterpillar, but it hung on tightly and ate and ate. In sorrow, the Little Rosebush hung her head, her flowers and leaves drooped, and she shivered although there was no breeze.

Dawn came and up...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• The Guidance
• The Stories