Page - 82 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

82 REfLECTIvE COsMOPOLITANIsM something in space or time, a relation comes into being. It is also very important for un- derstanding the ethical and aesthetic aspects of life. We might think that a good life is a life in which most of its parts have been positive, or in which we have developed good habits. However, this is not always so, as a series of actions that can be considered po- sitive when viewed individually may be considered negative if observed as a whole. Let’s take the example of an assembly line in a factory that makes bombs (the production of each individual part must be good) or the series of administration procedures that end up leaving someone out of the health system. That would take us to the more profound question of whether it is possible to define a part as good without knowing its relation to the whole. It is important to work with students on the relations between the parts and the whole in order to help them discover their importance and validity depending on context and the goals we set when discussing the relationship between parts and the whole. Exercise: Relations between the parts and the whole 1. If only one raindrop falls, is it raining? 2. If a flock is made up of big sheep, does that mean it is a big flock? 3. If your school has small classrooms, does that mean your school is small? 4. If one of your fingers hurt, does that mean your body hurts? 2. If you like ice cream, sausages and spaghetti, does that mean you like spaghetti with sausage ice cream sauce? 3. If a piece of music sounds loud, does that mean that all the notes that make up the piece are loud? 4. If an orchestra sounds good, does that mean that all the instruments sound good? 5. If a picture is full of small figures (people, animals, houses etc), does that mean that it is a small picture? 6. If the Spanish state is big, does that mean that each region in Spain is big? 7. If you give someone a gift, does that mean you are generous? 8. If you behave well one day, does that mean you are a good person? 9. If you feel happy for a while, does that mean that you are a happy person? 10. If you have a thought, are you thinking? Exercise: What would happen if…? Using the conditional can help stimulate people’s imagination by inviting them to imagine what the result of a totally different or new situation would be. In the fo- llowing examples, students try to imagine possible consequences to the situations we suggest. The exercise may also be used to generalize behaviors. 1. What would happen if there were no more school ever again? 2. What would life be like if every day was a holiday? 3. How would we see the world if we could not see colors? 4. What would life be like if we started at the end and every year that went by we were a year younger? 5. What would happen if the internet broke down? 6. What would happen if everybody threw litter on the ground? 7. What would happen if everybody went everywhere by car?