"Make Believe" and the Philosophical Process

If I had the opportunity to submit to a conference where I could connect my experience with Early Childhood Education and Philosophy, I think I would talk about pretend play and critical thought.

In ECE we set up an inviting environment with tools and materials that evoke concepts, and allow children to 'learn through play'. If you look at what adults who have internalized (or more accurately never lost) a love of lifelong learning, this is exactly the kind of behaviour they engage in when learning. Most independent learning is interest driven and involves research and experimentation with resources they find. It isn't only through books and articles, but also through talking with others and acting their ideas out in the real world.

In the ECE classroom there are certain materials that are considered highly important and ought to be included in every learning environment, such as blocks, text and writing materials, space for gross motor activity and pretend play materials. The last one can consist of a mock kitchen, costumes, or puppets, but this centre is considered highly important for early childhood development. having pretend play allows children to place themselves in a role and test their hypotheses about the functions and behaviours of that role. For example, a child who is playing a baby will demonstrate what they know about babies by pretending to cry. A child who is playing a mother might demonstrate that mothers are the ones who punish bad behaviour.

Philosophers often think of themselves as being quite different from preschoolers in an ECE environment, but when you look at what happens in philosophy i think a great deal of it involves a kind of pretend play. We find ourselves constantly asking "How would my opponent respond to this argument? Would an uninitiated reader need clarification of these concepts?" In fact, whole branches of philosophy have been based on the idea of taking the perspective of some unexplored other--be it the worker, women, animals, children, et cetera. Even though we might be looking at more complex phenomena, I still believe the virtues of the child who learns through play are virtues we should try to emulate as learners today.