Page - 64 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

64 REfLECTIvE COsMOPOLITANIsM Thought Experiment: Similarities and differences • What would happen if you and your friends were alike in everything? You look alike, you like the same food, the same colors, the same clothes, the same books, the same flowers… • What would happen if your friends were different every time you met? They looked differently, spoke differently, and acted differently… Leading Idea 2: Secrets Children find the idea of secrets exciting and fascinating. Slides of papers have a mes- sage with a secret code on it and the children should try to decode that hidden message. Secrets can be played within in this activity, just as David and Laura have prepared for the children. Secrets can be fun and pleasurable, but sometimes secrets can also be a bur- den – for example, if you know something that you should not tell anyone, or if you have a secret that you do not want to share with anyone. Discussion Plan: Secrets 1. What is a secret? 2. Are there some secrets that have to be shared with others? 3. Are there some secrets that it is better not to know? 4. Does everyone have a secret? 5. Do you enjoy keeping secrets? 6. Why do people like to have secrets? 7. Why is it difficult to keep secrets? 8. Is there a difference between a secret and a mystery? 9. Why do people use secret codes? Leading Idea 3: Language – language game One of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, Ludwig Wittgenstein, thought carefully about language and mind. He used the concept of a “language game’. He dis- cussed this by analogy with the game of chess. The rules of language are analogous to the rules of a game. For example, if you say something in a language, it is analogous to making a move in a game. The analogy between language and game demonstrates that: “the meaning of a word is its use in the language.”15 Discussion Plan: Words – meanings 1. Do you know words that have two meanings? 2. Do you know words that have no meaning? 3. Do you sometimes invent words? If yes, please give an example. 4. How do you know the meaning of a word? 5. Can words be true? 15 Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 1953, § 43.