Emily’s Art – A
videotaped philosophical conversation with children
In the Fall
of 2003 I was given the wonderful opportunity to work with Professor Thomas Wartenberg, of Mount
Holyoke College
on a ground-breaking project. The core of the project is a college course, called
“Philosophy for Children.” During the course college students prepare for, and
eventually lead, philosophical discussions with elementary school children.
People tend not to think of children as being able to handle philosophical
discussion. Professor Wartenberg's project has been
very successful at showing that not only can children handle philosophical
discussion but they also do it quite naturally and with enthusiasm.
For my part, I filmed and made a
documentary on the course. The clip presented here shows responses from two
fifth graders who are involved in a discussion concerning the objectivity of
judgment in art. The discussion was raised by a children's book, Emily's Art by Peter Catalanotto,
which the group read. In the book there is an art contest in which the judge
picks the winner based on her own personal preference. Since judging based on
personal preference is what we do when we declare our favorite ice cream
flavor, the students were asked if they thought there was a difference between
favoring one flavor over another and saying that a painting is beautiful. The
first student presents the view that there is no difference. He reasons
strongly that people's opinions on beautiful paintings differ much in the way
they do concerning ice cream flavors. The discussion leader asks, if there is
no difference, how there can be a judge or even an art contest at all. If there
is no difference, then the judge's pick of which is the best painting is
neither right nor wrong: it's just her opinion. The second student makes this
point beautifully and then presents a working criterion for judging art
objectively. Enjoy!
