Fostering Philosophical Thinking in Preschool
Young children naturally explore deep questions—how should we act toward each other? how do we know things?—and teachers can encourage their curiosity and growing understanding.
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In classrooms and homes across the world, educators, families, and caregivers nurture children’s physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development. Another vital dimension often goes unnoticed: the philosophical self—the aspect of a child’s being that questions, wonders, and reflects on life’s deepest mysteries. Recognizing and nurturing this aspect is both possible and transformative.
Jana Mohr Lone, director of PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization), has said, “The ability of human beings to think in the abstract—to be conscious of what we do, say, and think as we are doing, saying, and thinking—forms the foundation of the philosophical self.” Even young children have the ability to think deeply about their lives, to construct understanding of the world around them, and to richly contribute to philosophical conversations.
Encourage Children to Explore Philosophical Questions
According to Mohr Lone’s research, children naturally explore questions from different branches of philosophy.
Ethics: thinking about other people and how our actions impact them. For example, “How do we decide what to do when we are angry with a friend?”
Epistemology: engaging in questions about the nature of knowledge. Possible questions include “How do we come up with new ideas?” or “How do we remember things?”
Metaphysics: exploring the fundamental nature of reality. According to Mohr Lone, metaphysical issues are among the most pressing philosophical ones for young children. For example, “What does it mean for something to be real?”
Aesthetics: studying the nature of beauty, art, taste, and our sensory experiences of them, asking questions such as “What makes something beautiful?”
Philosophical inquiry isn’t about converging upon correct answers; it’s about asking generous questions and exploring varied perspectives. We can support children’s natural curiosity and foster their ability to communicate their unique ideas.
Recognize and Respect Children as Capable and Creative Thinkers
A culture of philosophical inquiry is one where every voice matters. According to Mohr Lone, children are often subject to “epistemic injustice… defined as the way in which one’s social identity impacts whether one is understood as a ‘knower,’ as someone capable of imparting knowledge to others.”
We can resist the pervasive tendency to dismiss children’s perspectives based upon their age by marveling at the questions they pose and taking their ideas seriously. We can approach the problems they solve and the strategies they use with curiosity. It’s important to avoid patronizing or dismissive language—their efforts are profound, not cute. When we treat children as protagonists in their learning, we are also modeling kindness, flexibility, responsibility, and inclusivity.
These practices create a foundation for brave, meaningful conversations where children and adults learn together. Let children’s questions guide the journey, going wherever their wonder leads.
Engage in Co-Inquiry With Children
In her article “Finding Questions Worth Asking,” educator and author Ann Pelo encourages us to view our conversations with children as “incubators for thinking” as we co-construct intellectual life in our communities. Here are nine examples of questions and statements that my colleagues and I use at our school to foster inquiry and reflection. They have the potential to turn ordinary moments into extraordinary possibilities for rich conversations:
- Why do you suppose...?
- How do you think that works?
- Why do you think that happens?
- How would you...?
- That sounds surprising! Can you tell us more?
- That’s unexpected! What’s your plan now?
- I haven’t thought about that before—please tell us more!
- I notice…
- I wonder…
Adding “I wonder” to the beginning of a question offers children the opportunity to think and respond at their own pace. Give children’s inquiry the time to expand, to meander, and to lead the way to unexpected delights!
Practice ‘Doubting and Believing’
One of the ways we engage in this co-inquiry with children at our school is a practice we call “doubting and believing,” inspired by the work of writer and scholar Peter Elbow.
Adults listen as though they are the students and a child is a professor. We suspend disbelief, assuming the truth in the children’s ideas. This helps us ask good questions (like those previously mentioned) so that we can truly understand a child’s perspective. In equal measure, we doubt, we find the inconsistencies, and we ask more questions that help us to understand and guide a child to clarify and develop their thinking.
For example, we regularly talk with children about shared agreements for working together kindly and respectfully. One morning, during such a conversation with a class of 4-year-olds, a discussion about remembering and forgetting occurred. When a child announced that he sometimes forgets the agreements in his brain, a conversational dance of “doubting and believing” began:
Teacher: How does the forgetting happen?
Child 1: Sometimes you lose the agreements.
Teacher: Where were they, and how did you lose them from there?
Child 1: The agreements go into another body. They’re in my heart and go around to somebody else.
Teacher: Where was the remembering part?
Child 1: In the heart. Then it goes in the stomach.
Teacher: OK, earlier you said it goes to another person’s body. And now you’re saying it goes to your stomach.
Child 2: It goes in the brain.
Teacher: So, we have some different ideas about what happens when you are forgetting.
Child 1: Then the idea gets gone! Because it goes down into the floor.
Children demonstrate an implicit awareness that memory is connected to sensations throughout our bodies, not just to thoughts we have in our brains. All of us experience memories that also warm our hearts or tie our stomachs in knots!
Grow Along With Your Students
When we take children’s ideas seriously, we grow alongside them. A gift of this work is the powerful way in which children’s thinking enriches and challenges our adult perspectives. In the tapestry of your community or classroom, philosophical inquiry can be a rich and vibrant thread. When we slow down, listen deeply, and wonder together, we uncover the extraordinary within the everyday—and honor children not only as learners but as thinkers, leaders, and fellow travelers on the human journey.