There
are several philosophical issues in the book, The Rabbit in the
Moon – friendship,
change, and courage – but the most prominent theme is the power
of goodness, kindness, and altruism. The book gives
a simple message that being good and kind is exceptionally valued.
In fact, the story goes to the extreme by presenting the heroic self-sacrifice
of the rabbit as something highly rewarded. In the third part of
the
discussion questions, children are asked to think about this message
and to question it. Starting with more specific questions such as
whether
they have been altruistic, and discussing what it means to be altruistic,
allows children to grasp the concept so that they can talk about
it more abstractly (e.g. is it right or wrong to be selfless and
to self-sacrifice,
etc.). These questions are open and are designed to give the children
an opportunity to think about who they are and what their rank orders
are regarding selfishness and selflessness, as well as to reflect
on other people’s opinions, and possibly adjust or change their
own as a result of new information and ideas. In this discussion,
through
carefully raising open-ended questions, a facilitator is gently guiding
the children into discoveries that might be contradictory to what
they’ve
known. For example, if children all agree that being selfish is bad,
which is a possibility considering that in everyday speech this word
has derogatory connotation, the facilitator could come up with an
example that would question that opinion and therefore make children
think
and realize on their own that being selfish could be - and is - good
at times.
Or perhaps some children might question the example and show valid
arguments against it, which would make room for deeper discussion
and thus deeper
understandings.
In this discussion children might be faced for
the first time in their lives with questions about when it is OK
to be selfish, when to consider
being selfless, when (if ever) to risk your life for someone
else, etc. Aside from teaching them to think and find the answers to
hard questions,
this ethical discussion about altruism is also useful in preparing
them for possible conflicting situations in their lives – situations
where it is necessary to decide on limits of their own selfishness
(or selflessness), for example.
Ethics and social philosophy issues
are intertwined in the discussion on friendship: the questions are
designed to spark a conversation
about the meaning of a good friendship and about the ways in which
we all influence each other. Starting from their own experience,
children can define characteristics of a good friend, and possibly
prioritize
some characteristics over others if asked to. For example, they
could be asked, “Would you rather have a friend who is loyal
or one who is smart?” which would then open up the separater
issue of rating virtues. It is important to mention that this particular
question
set, just as all the others, is just a general frame. Thus, apart
from answering these pre-made questions, the discussion itself might
lead to
more questions such as: Just because someone is our friend does
it mean that this person is always good for/to us? Can someone be
a bad person
and still be a good friend? What makes someone a bad person? It’s
also possible that many of the pre-made questions are not get answered
or even asked, because the discussion takes a different course.
The facilitator’s job here is to be open and flexible, to
actively listen to the children, and to recognize interesting ideas
that could
be worth exploring further.
The second set of questions encourages
a direct ethical inquiry into the virtues courage, fear, love,
and their relations. This discussion (as well as the other two) presents
a problem of conflicting
qualities existing together – just because someone is being
brave does not mean that he/she didn’t experience fear just
a moment ago or perhaps still feels fear while working against
it by being brave.
Again, examples are presented as open-ended questions
(e.g., What if X happened?) that will expose children to such
ambivalent
possibilities and could help induce children to think about the
world in terms of shades
of gray rather than black-and-white. Also, although the issue of
love is raised in questions only in a relation to the fear (as
a reference
to the book’s lines that connect the two), the discussion
might continue on, if appropriate, to ask what is love,
how do we
know that we love someone, or how do we know that we are loved.
The philosophical issues raised in the question
sets - friendship, courage, fear, love, and altruism are existential
- they are the essential
part of our lives. Therefore, children will be happy to discuss
them and will probably have a lot to say.
In addition, with the community of inquiry they
will learn actively by reflecting on their own thoughts and the thoughts
of their peers - rather than passively as when reading
a book or listening to a
teacher. Finally, even
if there is no one clear conclusion that the children can take away with
them
at the end of the discussion, they will still learn a lot about
the concepts that were discussed. More importantly, they will learn how
to stop and
think, to question, and to consider different possibilities,
explanations, and opinions.
Continue
to question set for this story
