Last weekend Jason ran a course about illusions called “Fake Views” as part of the Gift/P4HE Weekender. One of the illusions makes an interesting stimulus for P4C. All images and questions are in this PPT.
Oil, Painting?
Do you see legs with white paint, or legs covered in oil? The class will disagree, and most people will switch, without consciously doing so, from one view to another.
Introduce the words perception, perceive as useful in talking about what our senses tell us. The invites questions such as:
A Meme Revisited
A version of this has been around for ages. It’s intended to encourage respect for other perspectives. But show these pictures too…
The sharp-eyed might pick up on one loop of the eight being bigger than the other. And then this clinches it…
…and in the wider context the right answer is clear. But that’s not always the case, so finish off with these questions.
- When two people disagree (not just about what they see)…
- When is only one of them right?
- When are they both right?
- When is it impossible to say who is right?
- When is there no “right” to be right about?
What’s on in the Philosoverse?
We’ve been working on two big projects that should see us visiting lots of schools close to home in Essex, and far away in Australia. Schools in Australia (and in SE Asia, which one or other of us could visit on the way) who would like a boost to your philosophy or oracy work, get in touch.
Best wishes,
Jason and Tom