Who's for 'caring thinking'?

 People working broadly in the tradition of Matthew Lipman and his colleagues at the IAPC tend to say that an important aim of P4C is for children to become more disposed to be critical, creative and caring in their thinking. But what use are these terms? Are ‘the 3Cs’, as they are often called, simply part of the dogma embraced by an undiscriminating band of disciples? Let’s see.

Philosophers tend to weigh arguments before coming to judgements so developing the capacity for critical thinking seems an appropriate aim that most critics of P4C would accept. Notions of creative and caring thinking are more often dismissed by those to whom these words suggest a lack of rigour in thinking and a concern to be ‘nice’ above all else. I don’t agree.

Invention and judgement (or creative and critical thinking) have long been partners in the practice of philosophising. In the process of trying to express what they really want to say, people often improvise as they explore commonplace arguments or create new ones. Through such a process, people enlarge the field of experience under critical scrutiny. P4C encourages people to invent and to judge – to combine critical and creative thinking.

What of caring thinking? Some people would deny it any place in philosophising. They imagine it must lead people to prioritise pleasing others over more important aims such as seeking clarity and truth. Yet this kind of criticism fails to appreciate the sense in which the term ‘caring thinking’ is understood in P4C. It is used to indicate a willing suspension of indifference – indifference to the issue under scrutiny, indifference to the opinions and emotions of others, indifference to rational standards of discussion.

Seen in this way, caring thinking is crucial to the cognitive and inter-personal aspects of dialogue. In the case of philosophising with children I suggest that if children don’t care what the outcomes of philosophical judgements are, they will not be disposed to make any in the first place. And if they don’t care about their fellow inquirers in a dialogue, the project of regular philosophising will soon flounder. I think that philosophising in schools should be a form of living together in a reflective way. Living together without care would be an abomination.

Another important point is that the three kinds of thinking (critical, creative and caring) are not meant to be discontinuous, discrete or necessarily opposed to one another. They comprise a fusion of dispositions. So, for example, the sort of caring thinking valued here is infused with criticality and vice versa.

Of course, people sometimes have to make difficult choices about what to think and do, how to express themselves and how to respond to criticism – that’s life. The aim of enhancing children’s capacities for critical, creative and caring thinking is, to my mind, a sensible one that links philosophising to living in general by encouraging children to develop a set of dispositions that are likely to help them choose and judge wisely.