Homer’s story of Odysseus’ struggle to get home from Troy, The Odyssey (which dates from at the very least the 8th century BC), was utilized in the traditional world for moral instruction. But i locate that the stories lend themselves better to critical and philosophical thinking.
This is since the stories contain much complexity and ambiguity that they engage adolescents in a far more interesting way than straight moral tales. Many education professionals feel that everything must be made relevant to the childrens’ direct experience – as though children do not need an imagination – and that everything old must be updated. But there’s a real danger that the universal quality of significant stories, equivalent to those present in the Odyssey, could be overlooked.
There were ‘philosophical novels’ written for kids before, including Matthew Lipman’s Pixie, but these have right away dated and feature cultural references that fail to travel. The identical fate won’t befall the Odyssey if it’s left as virtually the unique as possible. The Arab countries have their very own version of the Odyssey within the Tales of Sinbad, and that’s widely thought that Sinbad was modelled at the Odyssey, which might have travelled way past the borders of Greece.
Homer’s work is stuffed with big questions including: the legitimacy of war; moral dilemmas (Scylla and Charybdis); moral relativism (the Laestrygonians and Ciconians); the character of affection (Kalypso); the price of happiness (the Lotus Eaters and Circe) and private identity (The Phaeacians). All are universal issues that affect us just up to the folks of antiquity. Porphyry, a philosopher of antiquity, recommended that the Odyssey be used for teaching philosophy and that is just what I’ve tried to do in a trendy British primary school context. This has prompted me to take advantage of Homer as a source to spark debate among children today.
The children sit in a large circle. We start by taking a look at probably the most online maps available with the book I’ve written to support my teaching, that records Odysseus’ progress across the Mediterranean and beyond, then I tell or we read the newest installment. We stop reading, usually at a crisis point within the story, to conduct a philosophical enquiry across the issue found in the crisis.
Enough time must be left on the end of each lesson, however, to complete off the tale, usually on a cliffhanger similar to the ship hitting the shore of a few unseen island within the night, leaving the youngsters wanting more. Each session is ready an hour long and, in the event you work through all of the stories (though you do not have to), it takes about 14 weeks to finish.
To use an example, the outlet sequence of The Odyssey describes the war between the Greeks and the Trojans; this lends itself to a discussion of when is one justified to visit war and when at war, what’s one justified to do The 1st two stories (the Wooden Horse and the Ciconians) explore each of those questions respectively. Each story thereafter tackles another philosophical theme or issue.
And once you think that there couldn’t possibly be a philosophical theme in every among the stories then reassess. It is all in there. The tale of Aeolus and The Bag of Winds permits an exploration of rulership in a debate between autocracy and democracy; the section with Tiresias and the Underworld brings prophecy, the character of one’s future and one’s control over it into the study room; the glorious story of the Sirens has one of the vital profound and complicated metaphors for freedom and desire that has ever been outlined either in fiction or by philosophers.
For me, the foremost rewarding portion of teaching philosophy in the course of the Odyssey is seeing the youngsters respond so positively to an ancient story and fasten with the characters. Choice moments that appear to actually affect the kids include: when Odysseus and his men reach the bay where their families await them but then, as a result of their very own hubris, they may be blown back out to sea by the winds that have been trapped by Aeolus’ bag; the children’s responses are unforgettable when Odysseus descends into the underworld to chat to Tiresias and is devastated to find his own mother there, having died of a broken heart looking ahead to him; and, without a doubt , the youngsters share with Odysseus a way of accomplishment once they reach the top – it is not just Odysseus that has completed an ‘Odyssey.’
When we’re exploring the existential angst facing Odysseus upon meeting with the monsters Scylla and Charybdis, one primary-aged boy said to me: “What have monsters got to do with real life” a woman within the same class saved me the hassle of getting to check out to reply him: “It is not really about monsters, it’s about difficult choices.”
Working with children and Greek culture like this has also made me think more in regards to the nature of news, why they’re important to us, ways to work with them. Storytelling creates an immediate line of communication between the instructor and their pupils. Telling the Odyssey seems to make the tale happen within the room and in real time not some three thousand years ago.
By considering these and other fictional, narrative situations in a narrative along with the Odyssey, the kids have a chance to rehearse how they could reply to an analogous situation, akin to a dilemma, that they will find themselves faced with in real life. And what is more, using a narrative or narrative, allows extremely complex situations to be put before the kids that might rather be far too complex to explain in isolation.
When it’s told inside the context of the tale of the Odyssey complex situations are easily understood by the kids, the existential bite is then each of the more easily felt. This teaches the kids the pains of leadership by having felt its sting within the safety of a fictional, hypothetical setting.
Peter Worley is the executive executive and co-founding father of The Philosophy Foundation. He’s the writer of 4 books on philosophy in schools including The If Odyssey: A Philosophical Journey Through Greek Myth and Storytelling for 8-16-year-olds.
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