Page - 153 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

www.wHATIsyOURNAME.yOU (MANUAL) 153 we see, touch, and feel. On the other hand, we could consider reality to be anything that, even if not part of our sensory experience, has its own existence independent from how we perceive it. For example, what is presented to us by the media impresses indirectly upon our perception and senses. In a world where we often consider reality to be everything presented by mass media, there is a risk that we ignore the existence of something if it is not presented to us. For example, if we do not have any images of slaughters and famines, does it mean that they do not exist? On the other hand, exposure to an overabundance of images can produce the same feeling of unreality. Therefore, what should we recognize as real - what we do not perceive or what we perceive amplified? The issue of reality is, therefore a fundamental one from a cosmopolitan viewpoint. How can we be world citizens without considering the existence of what is very far from us and not perceived, or what is amplified in its presentation to us? You can find further resources about “imagination”, “truth”, “real”, in the manual to Ella, episode 1 and Christian, episode 8. Discussion Plan: Reality 1. Is what I see real? 2. If I cannot see something, does that mean that it does not exist? 3. Is an idea real? 4. What is the difference between the idea of a chair and a chair? 5. Is my idea of a chair and my foreign friend’s idea of a chair the same thing? 6. How do I know if I’m real? 7. How do I know if the things around me are real? 8. How do I know if a country I have never visited is real? 9. If a thing is real for me, is it real also for a person who lives miles away from me? 10. Is there any difference between the reality I perceive and the reality that a South American guy perceives? 11. Does a person who speaks a different language describe reality in a different way? 12. Is what I consider real also real for an alien? 13. Is everything on the web real? 14. Are the people I meet on Facebook real? If so, are they real in the same way as the people I meet in my everyday life? 15. Are the people I meet on Facebook from my own country real? 16. Are the people I meet on Facebook from another country real? 17. Are the friendships born on Facebook real? Activity: What is this? You need a large box (one you can reach into), a glove, and a stocking. Cut the foot of the stocking and sew a glove in place of it. Make a hole in one of the box’s sides. It must be big enough to allow an arm to go inside, and then stick the stocking on it, putting the glove into the box. Put some objects of different shapes in the box; five are enough, but one of these objects must be something with which the students are not familiar. Divide the students in four groups and ask them to take turns slipping their hand into the glove and reaching into the box and touching the objects. Each team will write down on a piece of paper the objects it thinks it recognizes. Collect