Transforming Education through Meditative Dialogue: The Literacy of Crossing Worlds

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2013
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Haverford College. Department of Philosophy
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
In our global and technological age, our children are being exposed to cultures, worldviews, and perspectives from around the world, and have the opportunity to learn from these diverse traditions. However, this diversity gives rise to a fundamental question, that is, how can we dilate our minds in order to appreciate and understand a way of life different from our own? The art of crossing worlds through dialogue lies at the heart of philosophy, and it is for this reason that education must now address the issues relevant to our time by nurturing students' dialogical and rational abilities in order to pave the way to a societal structure grounded in mindfulness, critical and meditative reasoning, and compassion, that does not objectify the Other. Philosophical education should develop students' intelligence and awareness, and give them the skills of how to think (not what to think) so that they can question their assumptions and their worldview, strengthen their reasoning abilities and their awareness, and learn how to communicate and connect with others regardless of their worldview. This need to promote and facilitate the ethics of dialogue across worldviews can be accomplished through the philosophy for children pedagogy, and by engaging in deep dialogue. Thus, the primary objective of this thesis is to explore pre-college philosophical education and pedagogy, and the way in which it creates a space where students can learn the art and ethics of dialoging across worlds in a non-objectifying manner. Learning to philosophize requires understanding others and crossing into their worldview without objectifying it, and it is for this reason that philosophical education must provide a safe space where deep, profound dialogue can take place.
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