‘All men have opinions, but few think’ wrote the eighteenth-century Irish
philosopher, George Berkerley (Barnes, 1987, p.24). This thesis adds a
distinctive voice to educational research by investigating young children's
actual and potential ability to think philosophically. It is distinctive for two
reasons. Firstly, the research focuses on the innovative pedagogical practice
called Thinking Time’. Secondly, it relates this practice to the work of the
early Ionian philosophers, Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes and
Xenophanes, to find instructive parallels between children’s thoughts and
those of these philosophers.
The thesis explores the thinking of the Ionian philosophers and the myths
from which it emerged through a range of primary and secondary sources.
And it accesses young children’s thinking through generating transcripts of
taped sessions of Thinking Time’ which it analyses in the light of a discussion
of the works of some pertinent educational theorists. The thinking of the
children is brought in concert with the thoughts of the first natural philosophers
in Western society to illuminate the practice of Thinking Time’. The import of
the study for wider policy and practice in the area of early childhood education
is highlighted.