大象传媒

Are you ready for some philosophical thinking and debate? Cathy Macdonald explains what philosophy is, and introduces two stories with themes that can be discussed afterwards as a class.

The first story is called 'In Your Dreams', by Janis Mackay. In the story we meet Mairi, whose favourite class activity is Newtime on Monday morning. Mairi loves to describe what she did at the weekend and all her adventures. Her classmate Kyle usually sits quietly, and says nothing. But one Monday he surprises everyone by speaking up. He vividly describes his experiences ski jumping, going up in the chair lift, performing a successful jump, and learning a new move. Mairi calls this as "a pack of lies", but the other children aren't so sure. How can we decide what's 'true', what's imagination, and where dreams - whether nighttime, or daydreams - fit in?

In 'It's Not Fair', by Vivian French, the theme is fairness - an unfairness. Two brothers, Big Rabbit and Little Rabbit find themselves in disagreement over whether they should get the same number of carrots on their birthday. Should Big Rabbit get more because he's bigger? He certainly thinks so. How can we decide what's fair? Do you think it's important that things are fair? Why?

You may disagree with other people's opinions, but in a philosophical debate, the important thing is to give good reasons for what you believe in, and to listen respectfully to other people's views. You may even find yourself changing your mind as you do so. Enjoy the discussion!

'In Your Dreams' is read by Angela Darcy
'It's Not Fair' is read by Dario Cacioppo