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Children need to know there is this subject and they need to know what it is.

There’s no reason why philosophy as a subject in itself can’t be taught in

schools, and I think it should be.

Thinking for the city

JOSEPH CHANDLER ON THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WHO ARE GOING BACK TO SCHOOL

punishment for murder? “It

What is the appropriate

depends on what type of

murder it is,” says a 12-year

old school kid. “You could have murder where

you go out and shoot someone or you could have

a crime of passion.”

I’m in Sheffield, and the discussion is taking

place in a class which is part of the university’s

Philosophy in the City project. We’ve heard a lot

about philosophy in schools over recent years, but

this scheme is different, in that it is run entirely

by students.

Philosophy in the City is the brainchild of

undergraduate Alexis Artaud de la Ferriere.

Artaud de la Ferriere is clearly something of a

renaissance man, who has contributed to the

British Journal of Undergraduate Philosophy (an

intriguing sounding paper called “How to be

David Copperfield: a critique of Locke's personal

identity model”) and is also one of the poetry

editors of Route 57, the School of English’s online

writing magazine. However, Artaud de la

Ferriere is not one to take advantage of the

opportunities he has been given without worrying

about the justice of it all. He realises that he is

privileged to be able to do all of these things,

“especially when you’re doing philosophy,” he

says, “which isn’t something which is obviously

contributing to society.” He talks of the

responsibilities students have “through brute

facts and brute numbers, that we get this

subsidised degree that’s probably going to get us

good jobs, and it’s not obvious how we’re giving

back to society.”

Philosophy classes may not appear to be the

most obvious way to contribute to the common

good, but Artaud de la Ferriere makes a

convincing case that philosophy for all is a matter

of social justice. “In Britain or America, you have

a system where abstract knowledge is reserved

for a certain community: you have to go to certain

schools to get it and live in certain

neighbourhoods, and it’s assumed that lower

tpm3RD QUARTER 2008