Peter Worley / John Taylor / Katerina Deligiorgi / Angela Hobbs / Vivienne Orchard / Phillip Blond / Jonathan Douglas / John White

5 – 7.50pm | Thursday 23 June 2011
Room EAS171, New Theatre, East Building, LSE

Speakers
Peter Worley, Chief Executive Officer, The Philosophy Shop
John Taylor, Director of Critical Studies, Rugby School Mary Healy, Senior Lecturer in Education, Roehampton University
Katerina Deligiorgi, Senior Lecturer in Literature and Philosophy, University of Sussex
Angela Hobbs, Senior Fellow in the Public Understanding of Philosophy and Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
Vivienne Orchard, Lecturer in French, University of Southampton
Phillip Blond, Director of ResPublica
Jonathan Douglas, Director of The National Literacy Trust
John White, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Education, University of London

Chairs
Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College
Simon Glendinning, Reader in European Philosophy, LSE and Director of the Forum for European Philosophy
Maurice Fraser, Senior Fellow in European Politics, LSE

Despite a glorious native tradition boasting Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume and Bertrand Russell, to name but a few, our national school system has largely shunned philosophy. Nonetheless, there is increasing public interest in making philosophy a feature of the pre-university education system. Indeed, hundreds of primary schools nationwide are running weekly philosophy classes, while high-profile thinkers and celebrities have campaigned on the issue of the need for a ‘fourth “R”‘: Reasoning.

The aim of this event is to examine the practical implications of teaching the subject to children in primary and secondary school settings, and to look at what the philosophical tradition – from Plato to the Enlightenment through to the present day – has had to say on the question. We also want to look at the policy implications of instituting philosophy into the educational system, be it as an extra curricula activity or as an integral part of the school curriculum.

Programme