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Publication Date
1988
Publisher
Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children
Number of Pages
12
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Summary
This sequential bibliography matches the 1989 edition of Elfie, Book One page by page. It contains both sources—works that influenced Matthew Lipman in writing the novel, references to philosophical works he Ann Gazzard recommend to explore the novels’ philosophical themes, and brief commentary on them by Lipman.
Excerpt
On Being for Real
Since children don't use the word, "exist," the phrase closest to their language is "being for real." Elfie argues that she is for real (she exists) because she thinks all the time.
See Descartes Meditation II. Descartes wonders if he could be dreaming He also wonders whether there might be a demon causing him to hallucinate that he is dreaming. Elfie wonders if she's asleep. She checks by touching her eyes and finds that they are open. This empirical proof is good for only a moment, because she speculates that perhaps a person could sleep with her eyes open. So the empirical proof fails.
On the bottom of page 5, she returns to the logical proof. If I wonder, I think. If I think I am for real.
Also, see fragments of Heraclitus.
Of course, thinking does not itself prove that there is a person doing the thinking.
Keywords
ppearance/reality, connections, distinctions, elementary education, reasoning, one/many, part/whole, permanence/change, philosophy for children, similar/different
Disciplines
Early Childhood Education | Education | Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Lipman, Matthew (1988) 10. Elfie: Sources and References for Book One. Montclair, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. URL https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/iapc_primary_schl_curriculum/15
