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A production of the Committee on Pre-College Philosophy of the American Philosophical Association
 “The Unexamined Life is not worth Living...”
Socrates
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there?
!"How do I know what is "fair"?
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!"What makes an idea or statement true or false? Can truth change?
!"How do words mean? How does language come about and relate (or does it) to the
world?
!"What is the difference between a belief, an opinion, and knowledge?
!"What makes me 'me'? How much can I change and still be me?
!"Is time real? How so or why not?
!"What makes something real?
!"Is there a meaning of life? What does that question itself mean?
!"What makes something beautiful? the eye of the beholder or a quality in the object?
!"What is creativity? in art? in science? elsewhere?
!"How does an artist create?
!"What is the "work of art" (in literature, painting, music, dance,
theater? etc.??)

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 Some sample topics for discussion

Questions for Elementary School Questions for Middle School Questions for High School
Children Children Students

What is beauty? What is justice? What makes a government a good

one?

What makes a good friend? Can you change and still be you? What is a citizen?

Are dreams real? What role do friends play in our What rights and responsibilities
lives? should young people have?

Can animals talk to us? What makes me an individual? Is science true and how so?

Can trees or plants feel? What is the difference between a What values should matter in one’s
community and a gang? life?

Are colors real? How do I know I am not dreaming Should some music or art be
right now? censored?

Activities to Try

Create your own philosophy game

Bring in photos or pictures to stimulate
a discussion
Write philosophical poems
Watch a movie or TV show for
philosophical ideas
Sponsor a Be-a-philosopher Day
Create and perform your own Platonic
Dialogue
 What a Philosophy Club IS
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 Can you name these philosophers?

Look for:
Ludwig Wittgenstein! ! Martha Nussbaum
Plato! ! ! ! John Locke
Hypatia! ! ! ! Simone de Beauvoir
Søren Kierkegaard! ! ! Immanuel Kant
Iris Murdoch! ! ! Karl Marx
Friedrich Nietzshe! ! ! Avicenna
Arthur Schopenhauer! ! Hannah Arendt
Confucius

A production of the Committee on Pre-College Philosophy of the American Philosophical Association for
non-commercial distribution

photo credits: Wendy Turgeon, Alice McClain and internet sources.