The purpose of this research is to explore the possibility of a fuller integration between the narrative and the reasoning dimensions in the practice of the Philosophy for Children (P4C). In particular, we envision the return to narration by the research community (for instance, the creation of brief stories connected to the themes present in the dialogical-reasoning experience) as a further possibility of negotiating meaning and opening up new and diverse developments.
This complementary approach to P4C is based both on the recognition of the two-fold nature of the human mind (reasoning and narrative), and on the fundamental role that play, emotion and creativity have in the formation of a critical and autonomous self. This investigation, based on the thought-language relationship proposed by Vigotsky, is divided into two parts: the philosophical and the psycho-pedagogical. The first perspective points out the “philosophical” nature of the narrative experience; the second, the profound interrelation between the narrative and the argumentative dimension, as well as its value in terms of cognitive, metacognitive and formative development.
Following the research community’s work inspired by the stories created by Lipman, from this research emerges a return to narration from a very different perspective -- not only because here, instead of listening to stories, the focus is on inventing and writing them, but above all because this experience takes on a value which is qualitatively different. In fact, in the narrative experience, there is a proliferation of meanings which open up “a conjugation of reality into subjunctive” (Bruner); in this sense, as Lipman says, thinking is actually “discovering, inventing, connecting and experimenting with relationships.”
We maintain that the interrelation between listening and reasoning and that between reading and writing foster the improvement of logical-linguistic abilities and the construction of the self. Inventing and writing brief narrative texts, after having shared meanings in discussion, entails a greater integration of the different dimentions of intelligence (as pointed out by Gardner), in particular between the logical-linguistic and the creative components. At the same time, the development of a series of competences are fostered, such as that of problematization (what is the problem which emerges in the invented story?), that of conceptualization (what are the principal aspects to be presented through the narration?), that of actualization (how can we represent that problem today?), that of interpretation (what are the possible meanings of the narrated events?), and that of metaphorization (which images and signs should be used to express the concepts?)
This work – in which critical thinking and critical literacy go hand in hand – intends to present to the scientific community an exploratory research hypothesis, which will be followed by experimentation in educational contexts.