Political Philosophy : Philosophy Lesson for Students Aged 8-16 [P4C, Philosophy for Children]

This fun philosophy lesson focuses on political philosophy: the branch of philosophy that explores matters relating to politics, liberty, justice, property, and rights. Political philosophy also explores law and how laws are enforced by authorities, the purpose of government, what rights and freedoms it should protect, what form it should take.

Political philosophers also investigate the responsibilities and duties we all have in relation to the state, what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, and when (if ever) governments may be legitimately overthrown through revolution. This session introduces political philosophy to young learners and refers to important philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

This session is of interest to all teachers working with students aged 8-16 but has a special relevance to teachers of civics, politics, and those covering politics in their school’s PSHE/SMSC curricula. This session explores topics such as:

• Different forms of government
• The importance of laws
• The nature of freedom and ‘free societies’
• Human Rights
• The nature of utopias and dystopias

The big question asked in this session is “What would a perfect society (utopia) be like? To what extent is creating one possible?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical questions such as:

• What do terms like ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ really mean?
• What qualities ought a good leader of a country to have?
• All in all, are we more or less free as a result of living in a modern civilised society?
• In our own society, which laws (if any) do you think are potentially unjust?

Students will also analyse and evaluate an eclectic mix of philosophical claims such as:

• “Society cannot function without people sacrificing certain freedoms”
• “I would rather live in a tribe in the jungle than in a modern society”
• “I can think of ways to improve this society and make it a better system for people to live in”

This session uses our unique format for philosophy teaching resources and features an integrated menu that allows teachers to select from a variety of starter, main, plenary, assessment and end-of-lesson reflection activities.

The file is a PowerPoint Show: no planning or preparation is required, just run the file and the intuitive menu system will make delivering a powerful philosophy session very easy! This resource is suitable for students aged 8-16; due to the flexible nature of the sessions design it can be used for multiple hour-long sessions or as a short stimulating tutor-group activity.