“Common problems” in a workshop of Philosophy for children
Résumé
Educational research demonstrates a growing concern for the role of social interactions in pedagogical settings and seeks to consider the dialogical nature of thinking (e.g. Mercer, Wegeriff & Major, 2020; Muller Mirza & Dos Santos Mamed, 2021). Cognitive achievements are not socially isolated phenomena. This presentation intends to contribute to these lines of qualitative investigations by a joint analysis, conducted by a philosopher (also linguist) and a psychologist, of the video-registration of a workshop of Philosophy for children with 2 teachers and 6 students. The specificity of this activity is that thinking is the object of reflection. The setting is designed to get children involved in philosophical inquiries by constituting “communities of philosophical inquiry”. It is expected that the problem under discussion emanates from the students and is a “common problem”. What are the intellectual, social and emotional processes at work? How do teachers and students manage these roles? Is there a “common problem” and how does it emerge and is recognized as such? The methodological procedure has 3 steps: 1) to describe what is happening while refraining from interpretating it. This is challenging because the transcription contains ambiguities that are easily overinterpreted; 2) formulation of tentative hypotheses regarding the meaning that the different participants give to the exchanges. These hypotheses are tested by investigating the course of the conversation; 3) identification of the processes involved. The results, among other things, enrich our understanding of thinking as an open-ended process at risk of being stopped at any time.