ABSTRACT
The P4C ‘program’ was developed at a time and in a country (late 1960s, USA) when/ where there was no national curriculum, and therefore no felt need to fit it to any particular scheme of educational priorities or outcomes. It was, though, a tumultuous period in North American history, with the battle for civil rights at home, and a war in Asia that was also divisive (to the point of violence even within academic institutions). Matthew Lipman’s invention of ‘Philosophy for Children’ was a systematic reconstruction of the very notions of ‘education’ and ‘children’ – focussing the former on the experiences and needs of the latter.
