The Experience of the Community of Philosophical Inquiry: Intersections Between Transformation and Reflection

Experiential workshop modeled on Matthew Lipman’s (2003) community of philosophical inquiry (COPI), where participants have a reflective experience of an encounter with the “other”, engaging with differences within a dialogic space constructed according to a specific pedagogical matrix. The workshop is facilitated by an experienced Teacher Educator, certified by the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. The Community of Philosophical Inquiry Philosophical inquiry, according to the model defined by Lipman (1988, 2003) and implemented in the long established and widespread experience of Philosophy for Children [P4C], is a kind of inquiry which is focused on the exploration of both the sense and the meaning of human experiences, and is triggered by problems regarding the aims, the origins, the relations, the value of things in human life. For these reasons its nature and purpose is not explicatory (like in scientific inquiry) but critical, inquisitive and deliberative. Its goal is not to explain and order the phenomena constituting human experience, but to relate them within a structure of shared meanings; to explore them in depth, taking into account their complexity and variability; to connect them to human agency and conduct. For these reasons, it requires a particular epistemic position (critical, problematic, reflective) starting from the inside of human experience, in order to broaden its range and make it more and more meaningful, significant and powerful both for individuals and communities. Philosophical inquiry, indeed, is constructed and developed within a community of individuals, which grows up as an individual itself, and passes through different growing phases, becoming more and more autonomous, self –correcting, self –effacing through a continuous reflective process. From our point of view, the community of philosophical inquiry (COPI) - which is an educational space in presence characterized by a specific aim and structure which differentiate it from the community of practice theorized by Wenger (1999) and from the virtual community of inquiry theorized by Aykol and Garrison (2013) - is a multidisciplinary intersection that can activate critical thinking processes in all participants (interpreted by combining Lipman’s and Mezirow’s views).