Seite - 146 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

146 REfLECTIvE COsMOPOLITANIsM also have to choose a secret code, which can be a word, number, or something else, known only by the community that created it. Subsequently, some closed envelopes containing cards should be distributed, one to each student. Each one has to read his or her own card secretly; in it one of the following expressions is written: I accept mi- grants; I do not accept migrants; I am a migrant. There will be only two migrants (one for each community). The two migrants declare themselves and leave the community to which they belong and “migrate” to the other community. The migrants who join the other community have to ask questions to each member to find out the secret code. The community members who have received the cards with I accept migrants will provide correct clues, while those who have received the cards with I do not accept migrants will give wrong clues. The migrant has a quarter of an hour to find out what the secret code of the community is. But be careful! Whoever has received the card with I accept migrants has to make the migrant understand that he or she is sincere and trustworthy while whoever has received the card with I do not accept migrants has to conceal his or her lies. Each member of the community cannot know what is written on the cards of the others, but s/he can help the migrant to understand who can be trusted. The migrant is free to choose to whom s/he wants to ask questions. The winner is the first one to find out the secret code. However, it might also be the case that the secret code is not discovered. Exercise: Let’s reason together After having done the previous activity, ask the class whether this happens also in reality. In this vein, imagine that you have to leave your birthplace and go to another country. Consider the following questions. 1. Would you really find people who are willing to support you? Why might this happen? 2. Would you find people who are not willing to support you? Why might this happen? 3. Would you be accepted? Why? 4. Would you be tolerated? Why? 5. Would you be neither accepted nor tolerated? 6. Would being accepted (or not) depend, in your opinion, on you or on the hosting community? 7. In your opinion, what does the secret code stand for? Leading Idea 2: Pre-Judgment/Prejudice A pre-judgment is a pre-conceived evaluation that has been submitted to no test. We rea- son on the basis of pre-judgments when, for instance, the behavior of a person is general- ized to relate to an entire class of people of which s/he is a member, or when many people state something that is deemed to be necessarily true because it was affirmed by a large number of people. Examples of pre-judgments include myths, legends, hearsay and, in general, any statement that is not supported by a test of its truth. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that a pre-judgment necessarily produces negative judgments, or that it results from negative judgments. Sometimes judgments result from hypotheses that cannot be proved because of a lack of appropriate means. Therefore, prejudices, since they are in fact pre- judgments, lead us to circumstances in which they are either affirmed or refuted. You can find further information in the manual to Ella, episode 2 and Christian, episode 3.