It’s our philosophy

Preshil has always concerned itself with developing awareness and understanding of the key issues of the times and responding to them in ethical, imaginative and critical ways.

The Philosophy for Children (P4C), ‘Community of Inquiry’ approach, which we have adopted, aims to support children to develop their thinking skills and contribute to the shared understanding of the diverse viewpoints of their classmates.

Philosophical inquiry requires:
• Generating new ideas;
• Seeing existing situations in new ways;
• Identifying alternative explanations;
• Seeing connections;
• Finding new ways to apply existing ideas.

Intellectual flexibility, open-mindedness, adaptability, and readiness to try new ways of thinking about things are hallmarks of well-conducted philosophical inquiry and are the aim of the philosophy program in the primary school.

Philosophy has always held a special place at Preshil. It is our goal to build continually on this outstanding program across the whole school, from Kindergarten to Year 12. From a child’s earliest plaintive howl of “That’s not fair!” to the most intricate ethical examination of social behaviour, we are presented with daily evidence that children are not only aware of philosophical concepts but are vitally interested in discussing them and finding their own identity through life’s big questions.

In the Secondary School…

The Year 11 philosophers commenced their journey into the world of Philosophy through embarking on their inquiry into what it means to be human. As a class they were intrigued by the developments in Artificial Intelligence and the questions this raised on the definition of personhood. The students worked on developing the foundations of philosophical thinking by learning about argument and logic, so that they can better interrogate the philosophical texts and ideas that they study.

The Year 12s hit the ground running with their significant study of Ethics. They continued their deep discussion of the foundations of morality which was complemented by their ongoing study of Nietzsche’s “On the Genealogy of Morals” – no easy task for even the most experienced philosopher! They worked on their internal assessment and selected rich stimuli for discussion. Together they honed in on their questioning skills so they can ask better philosophical questions when looking at texts, artworks and films.

In Year 9 Individuals and Societies, classes delved into the ‘Mind/Body Problem’. What is my mind? Where is it? Is it simply my brain, or something more? Their unit culminated in a meeting with scientists on the cutting edge of AI technology, who helped them understand the philosophical implications of the rise of the algorithms.

In Year 10 Individuals and Societies, students engaged in philosophical inquiry relating to the values and ideas at the basis of the charter of human rights. They explored enlightenment ideas about human nature and the ideal society. They considered the question of whether or not humanity became more civilised over the course of history. The discussion of their moral progress was inspired by a reading they did from philosopher, Peter Singer – a Preshil alumni – on the same question.

How to think, how to apply logic, how to live, how to see through nonsense – and have the courage to recognise that the emperor really does not have any clothes; these are the fundamentals of philosophy and essential life skills for all our students.