The Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year for 2016 was “post-truth”: an adjective defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”.
For old-fashioned defenders of the Truth (with a capital T), this sums up all that has gone wrong.
It is scary how, despite our instant access to more information than ever before, we still seek out stories that reinforce our existing beliefs, biases and opinions.
Such a tendency is easily manipulated, as evidenced by the disgraced data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica’s influence on the US presidential campaign in 2016, which saw Trump elected, and in the Brexit referendum, held the same year.
Philosophy and critical thinking
In our fast-paced, virtually enhanced world of news, information and opinions, the tools of critical engagement, compassionate and ethical responses, democratic civility and responsible consumerism are necessary if we want to discern facts from lies, and to promote that which is right and good, fair and just.
The discipline of philosophy has a wonderful historical toolbox of useful skills and techniques, specifically dedicated to enhancing critical-thinking skills, thinking through moral dilemmas and considering the appropriate responses to situations in just and compassionate ways.
The traditional skill of checking claims for evidence and hidden assumptions is at the heart of what philosophers do, as well as practising the art of reasonable disagreement.
Such skills are sorely needed today, both online and face-to-face.
Asking critical questions
As ever, the role for teachers in assisting students to gain and practise the skills required to navigate this world of choice and ideas is vital.
Thanks to technology, we connect with more ideas, images and other people than ever before. It is not enough to learn how to use the technology (an issue on which educators are already lagging behind): critical and ethical questions must also be asked.
Students need to be discussing their own questions about society, technology, what they can know and trust, and how they should treat others and the natural world.
Safe educational spaces need to be created, where students can explore these questions.
Should we?
Of crucial importance - and often missing from the conversation - are ethical questions such as: should we? Just because we can create AI/build driverless cars/buy robots to care for the elderly/sequence and store every child’s DNA on a national database…should we? The dialogue around such questions needs to be taught, role-modelled and practised.
Importantly, the discipline of philosophy is imbued with the practice of philosophical skills. The pedagogy of the Socratic dialogue sees a community of inquiry established, where the students as well as the teacher belong to a collaborative, respectful group, who are investigating the answers to questions and seeking truth and wisdom together.
The philosophy teacher facilitates an open inquiry on topics and questions that really matter to students - to their lives and to society.
These are conversations we are all already having. Yet, for the most part, we are not often having such debates respectfully or charitably.
Democratic decision-making
The philosophical techniques of critical thinking, and reasonable and ethical engagement with others and scenarios presented to us, may well support more critical and ethical dialogue. Hopefully, such skills also encourage the habits of reasonableness, civility and democratic decision-making.
Humans seek out information and desire connection. We are curious and social, and will use whatever tools at our disposal to serve these purposes.
Yet we must also consider the tools themselves, their inbuilt limitations, and how we ought to be using technology to ensure that it serves us and our global communities well.
Teaching philosophy in schools and holding philosophical dialogues in classrooms is a great way to encourage students to develop the skills required to be critical, caring, reasonable citizens, capable of engaging ethically and democratically with others, both face-to-face and online.
Dr Laura D’Olimpio is senior lecturer in philosophy of education at the University of Birmingham. She edits Journal of Philosophy in Schools and has published Media and Moral Education: A philosophy of critical engagement (Routledge, 2018). She tweets as @Lauradol4
