This multi-use interactive philosophy lesson explores ‘Philosophy of Mental Health’: an interdisciplinary field of study that combines views and methods from the philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and moral philosophy in order to analyse the nature of mental illness. We’ve aimed to combine philosophical issues with practical ‘PSHE’ topics to create a fascinating philosophy teaching resource that will help your students to explore the topic of mental health whilst emphasising critical-thinking skills and challenging assumptions. This session is ideal for teachers who want to explore philosophy with students aged 8-16; we’ve carefully selected the most significant issues and questions relating to philosophy of mental health so that young learners can engage in fun and useful philosophical discussions and debates. This session explores topics such as: The nature of the mental illness Different theories as to the fundamental causes of mental illness How lifestyle choices can promote good mental health How to respond to mental health challenges in ourselves and others The role of society and culture in the genesis of mental illness The big question asked in this session is “Why do some people face mental health challenges whilst others do not?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical questions such as To what extent is mental illness similar to physical illness? What are the primary causes of mental health challenges? What is the best way to treat a mental illness? What are some ways in which people can manage and reduce the amount of stress they have in their lives? To what extent should people rely on medication to help manage and treat mental health conditions? and How can lifestyle choices impact the likelihood that we develop mental health problems? This resource is suitable for teachers of all school subjects who are looking explore the topic of mental health and mental illness with young people: it is of particular relevant to Psychology Teachers and PSHE Teachers and PSHE Co-ordinators. 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. With a massive selection of activities designed to trigger philosophical discussions, debates and reflections: you can re-use the resource numerous times with the same group. Aside from a wide range of debate and discussion activities, teachers can also choose from a variety of more substantial activities such as essay writing, poetry writing, and speech writing tasks.

This thought-provoking philosophy teaching resource focuses on ethics and meta-ethics: instead of focusing on specific moral issues (which is covered in a different session on ‘Applied Ethics’ this re-usable lesson explores the fundamental nature of ethics, the difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, the function of moral language, different theories of normative ethics, different ways of thinking about how we ought to live, and deeper issues around the metaphysical status of good and evil. This session is ideal for teachers who want to explore philosophy with students and is of particular value to teachers who want to nurture the moral development of their students (perhaps in an SMSC or PSHE context) and trigger deeper reflections on the fundamental nature of ‘right and wrong’; we’ve carefully selected the most significant issues and questions relating to normative ethics and meta-ethics so that young learners can engage in fun philosophical discussions and debates. This session explores topics such as: The fundamental nature of good and evil Different ways of evaluating the morality of actions Virtue ethics and what it means ‘to be a good person’ Whether or not morality is absolute or relative (e.g. to different cultures and time-periods) The degree to which moral judgements refer to objective facts The degree to which moral judgements are baseless and arbitrary The big question asked in this session is “What is the fundamental difference between good and evil acts?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical questions such as: What makes it reasonable to call a specific action “good”? Are there some actions that we can say are always evil in all situations, time periods and cultures? What is the role of empathy in compassion in determining the most morally correct course of action in life? and What is the most important virtue to cultivate in life? Students will also analyse and evaluate an eclectic mix of philosophical claims such as: “Some actions are morally permissible even when they create suffering for others.” “Some people are born evil” and “It is impossible to truly know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil.” This resource is suitable for teachers of all school subjects who are looking to introduce philosophy, philosophical thinking and critical thinking. 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!