Matthew Lipman: testimonies and homages

We lead off this issue of Childhood and Philosophy with a collection of testimonies, homages, and brief memoirs offered from around the world in response to the death of the founder of Philosophy for Children, Matthew Lipman on December 26, 2010, at the age of 87. To characterize Lipman as “founder” is completely accurate, but barely evokes the role he played in conceiving, giving birth to, and nurturing this curriculum cum pedagogy that became a movement, and which has taken root in over 40 countries, from Iceland to Nigeria to Taiwan to Chile and everywhere in between. The movement itself is broader than the program, which has in fact experienced multiple transformations in multiple contexts over its half-century of life. In fact, as many of the testimonies below either state outright or imply, the movement is an emancipatory one and thus implicitly political, infused with all the long-suffering hope for our species inspired in us by the fact of natality, and by our own intuitive faith in the transformative power of reason—or as Lipman came to call it, “reasonableness.” For those seized by its educational possibilities, it presents a sudden influx of sunlight and fresh air into an institution long stultified by its own rigid habitus, and promises the reconstruction of schooling in the image of authentic democratic practice that recognizes and honors the unique capacities of children. As Philosophy in the Classroom—Lipman’s first and now classic statement of educational philosophy--puts it, the movement promises a re-orientation of the goal of education from information (or “learning”) to meaning, and inaugurates the dialogue with childhood and children that follows from that. Lipman was not just founder of this movement but creator, inventor, developer, convener, organizer, faithful soldier, ambassador, apologist, polemicist, propagandist, and, finally, undying optimist

Philosophy for Children in China:: A Late Preliminary Anti-Report

At the very least, even though Chinese schools do not look very different from those in the West, China offers an opportunity for Philosophy for Children to question its basis, its methodology, its aims. It seems to be expressing a different cultural voice, and to be disposed to the kind of dialogue we are more used to claiming than practicing. Both Kunming and Shanghai provide, in their own ways, formidable contexts: the deep, strong and disciplined educators of Railway Station School of Kunming and the scholarly, sophisticated and committed members of the Shanghai institute for Research in the Human Sciences seem determined to take Philosophy for Children, not just beyond their own limits as Chinese, but beyond the limits Philosophy for Children has already established for itself in the West. Philosophy for Children in China, then, looks like a wonderful opportunity to think ourselves--what we are as educators engaged in the practice of philosophy--again. An invitation to think ourselves again. Is this not what dialogue and philosophy are about? It’s up to us to accept the invitation

Applying Abstract Argumentation Theory to Cooperative Game Theory

We apply ideas from abstract argumentation theory to study cooperative game theory. Building on Dung's results in his seminal paper, we further the correspondence between Dung's four argumentation semantics and solution concepts in cooperative game theory by showing that complete extensions (the grounded extension) correspond to Roth's subsolutions (respectively, the supercore). We then investigate the relationship between well-founded argumentation frameworks and convex games, where in each case the semantics (respectively, solution concepts) coincide; we prove that three-player convex games do not in general have well-founded argumentation frameworks.Comment: 15 pages, 1 tabl

Surgical aspects, finite element analysis and x-ray correlation of femoral neck changes in the osteoarthritic hip after hip resurfacing surgery

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Science.Background: Hip resurfacing is a logical choice for the treatment of symptomatic osteoarthritis as the degenerative process affects primarily the articular surface. It has been tried previously but failed. Recent improvements in metallurgy, manufacture and engineering have resulted in the development of a new series of implants which appear to be much more successful. Over the last 10 years, they have been used with enthusiasm and increasing popularity. However, over the last two years or so, their popularity has diminished with an awareness of significant complications developing. The complications relate primarily to early fracture, and the possible development of adverse reactions to metal ions. Component position may be implicated in the development of these complications

Delineating the Source and Implications of Social Polarization

The purpose of this research was to examine the causes and consequences that meta-perceptions of polarization in the United States entails. The survey used in this study assessed respondents demographic and political information prior to questions regarding polarization. This study found that the polarization in the United States results from a multitude of variables, including: the intrusion of partisan cues into everyday life, social sorting, polarization’s implicit effect, and differences in moral concern. Moreover, polarization encompasses and variety of ramifications that include disease, amplified interparty animosity, biased policy evaluation, reduced governmental efficiency, intraparty polarization, tribalism, and the quest to achieve political victory rather than achieving the “greater good.” In further discussion, it was determined that polarization poses two main outcomes for the United States: a perpetual cycle in which polarization continues to increase over time, or a future in which polarization has already reached its apex and, thus, will deescalate over time. In light of these findings, it is prudent for Americans to refrain from impulsivity to preclude the onset of polarization and its accompanying repercussions

Registering a Home When Homeless: A Case for Invalidating Washington’s Sex Offender Registration Statute

Sex offenders experiencing homelessness face unique challenges in Washington that sex offenders with housing do not. When individuals commit a sex offense, they are required to register as a sex offender by providing the state with a current home address. But what happens if an offender has no home? Currently, Washington’s sex offender registration statute forces sex offenders experiencing homelessness to appear in person weekly at the county sheriff’s office to meet registration requirements. Failing to appear for even one week can result in a charge for failure-to-register as a sex offender. In contrast, the statute requires non-homeless sex offenders to register yearly. While non-homeless registrants usually have one opportunity in a year to be charged with failure-to-register, registrants experiencing homelessness are vulnerable to failure-to-register charges at least fifty-two times a year. Washington courts should invalidate Washington’s sex offender registration statute because of the statute’s harm to registrants experiencing homelessness. Although sex offenders typically do not receive much sympathy from the public, sex offenders experiencing homelessness face serious economic and social challenges. In addition to weekly registration, sex offenders experiencing homelessness carry the burden of worrying about common human necessities such as housing, food, and employment. This Comment argues that the weekly in- person registration requirement for sex offenders experiencing homelessness is harmful and ineffective. This Comment further argues that Washington’s registration statute as applied to individuals experiencing homelessness is unconstitutionally cruel punishment

How Intra-District School Choice and Competition Among Schools Impacts School Leadership: A Case Study of Secondary School Principals

The purpose of this qualitative, explanatory case study was to describe how traditional, magnet, and charter school principals in one Delaware school district responded to an environment of total school choice and how they made sense of their roles as a principal in the era of school choice. Hess’s (2010) organizational theory was the theoretical foundation for this study as selective enrollment schools, such as magnet and charter schools, would have direct and indirect effects on traditional schools The research questions for this study were: (a) How do traditional, magnet, and charter school principals make sense of the competition generated by school choice options; (b) how do traditional, magnet, and charter school principals perceive the competition of how school choice impacts their responsibilities as school leaders; and (c) how do traditional, magnet, and charter school principals perceive the competition of how school choice impacts the long-term operations of the school? The results were from 11 individual principal semi-structured interviews, 11 administrative questionnaires, 11 school choice event observations, and artifact analysis were used as gathered data and were analyzed through hand coding and recoding. The participants universally felt that school choice had a nearly immeasurable impact on their job responsibilities. Principals expressed they had distant vision of what school choice policy meant for them and the school they would lead in the future, but they were uncertain if that vision would be attained