ABSTRACT
In Philosophy for Children, we don't focus on rationality but on reasonableness: that is rationality tempered by good judgment. Thus, Philosophy for Children is part of a worldwide effort to create a community of philosophical inquiry – a community that embraces the rational as well as the irrational, the empiricistic as well as the rationalistic. The history of philosophy for children is marked with the initiation of philosophical conferences run by children in Brazil. Children who watch a lot of television tend to be passive, unimaginative and uncritical of the various desires created by the media to influence young people to buy more and more. Communal inquiry involves children in actively thinking for themselves about matters of importance. In such inquiry, children discover not only that they are persons but that they are active beings who can make a difference in the world. Children who live the life of the community of inquiry often experience deep feelings of solidarity.
