Wisdom and the art of living in 8th grade. Teachers' experiences of the Philosophizing the dialogos way

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12795/HASER/2021.i12.03 HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 © Universidad de Sevilla, 2021 WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE TEACHERS` EXPERIENCES OF PHILOSOPHIZING THE DIALOGOS WAY LA SABIDURÍA Y EL ARTE DE VIVIR EN OCTAVO CURSO. EXPERIENCIAS DE LOS MAESTROS DEL PROYECTO “PHILOSOPHIZING THE DIALOGOS WAY” GURO HANSEN HELSKOG University of South-Eastern Norway Norway [email protected] ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3637-3776 MICHAEL NOAH WEISS University of South-Eastern Norway Norway [email protected] ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3471-7697 RECEIVED: JULY, 15, 2020 ACCEPTED: NOVEMBER, 19, 2020 Abstract: This paper discusses teachers` self-reported experiences from participating in a Dialogos philosophizing project over five months, from the perspective of wisdom development. The project involved teachers from 13 upper secondary schools in a municipality in Scandinavia. They were given a course on philosophy and rhetoric over four workshops with five weeks in between. Moreover, they were themselves supposed to facilitate 20 philosophical dialogue sessions with their own 8th grade students during the project. The research methods used were participative observation and analysis of teachers` meta-reflection notes after the last workshop. The paper concludes with that the project did seem to enhance teachers`wisdom. According to the teachers, the students had also become much more reflected due to the project. GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 76 Key words: wisdom, Dialogos, philosophical practice, art of living, teacher education Resumen: Este artículo analiza los informes personales de los maestros que han participado en el proyecto “Dialogos philosophizong”, durante cinco meses, desde la perspectiva del desarrollo de la sabiduría. En el proyecto, participaron profesores de trece escuelas secundarias de un municipio de Escandinavia. Se les impartió un curso sobre filosofía y retórica durante cuatro talleres con cinco semanas de intervalo. Además, se les propuso que ellos facilitasen veinte sesiones con sus estudiantes de octavo curso durante el proyecto. Los métodos de investigación utilizados fueron la observación participativa y el análisis de las notas de meta-reflexión de los docentes. El documento concluye que el proyecto mejoró la sabiduría de los profesores. Según los profesores, los estudiantes se volvieron más reflexivos debido al proyecto Palabras clave: sabiduría, Dialogos, Filosofía Aplicada, arte de vivir, maestro Introduction The art of living a physically, morally and spiritually wise and good life was the core theme of classical philosophy, whether Eastern or Western. The human being was in both traditions understood holistically and as part of a greater whole, whether called nature, cosmos, atman, or the universe. On an individual level, the ancient philosophies were all oriented toward selfformation, self-edification, self-realisation, self-mastery and the like. In a Western context, Pierre Hadot, in his book “Philosophy as a way of life” 1 , argues that the schools of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, the Cynics and the Epicureans were practical philosophies aimed at teaching and enhancing wisdom and human flourishing, though each tradition had a slightly different understanding of these concepts. Similarly in an Eastern context Shri Yogendra, in his 1 HADOT, Pierre: Philosophy as a Way of Life. Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2010. WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 77 book “Facts about Yoga” 2 , argues that no matter what school of yoga, they were all oriented toward human self-edification and thus wisdom. However, neither the classical Western nor the classical Eastern philosophical schools concerned with the art of living wisely seem to have any significant bearing in modern cultures today, other than as fragments. Does it need to be so, or can wisdom from classical philosophies, both Western and Eastern, show us a way seldomly used in our time? We believe so, and in this paper we show how philosophizing the Dialogos way 3 through an action research project in public education might enhance the wisdom of participants. We do so by describing and discussing a project carried out over five months in the fall and winter of 2018/2019. The policy context of this action learningand research project is the ongoing curriculum reform in education in Norway, in which three interdisciplinary themes have entered the national curricula of primary, secondary and upper secondary education. The themes are sustainable development, public health and life skills, and democracy and citizenship, all based in §1 of the Norwegian Education Act (in Norwegian called formålsparagrafen 4 ). This is the background for a direct invitation from the primaryand secondary education department in a middle-sized municipality in Norway that one of the authors of this paper, Guro Hansen Helskog received. She was asked whether she could teach the 8th grade 2 YOGENDRA, Shri: Facts about Yoga, The Yoga Institute, Mumbai, (2009) [1971]. 3 HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Philosophizing the Dialogos Way Towards Wisdom in Education. Between Critical Thinking and Spiritual Contemplation, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2019. 4 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH, Government of Norway: Education Act, 2007, available in https://www.regjeringen.no/en/finddocument/dep/KD/legislation/Acts-and-regulations/education-act/id213315/ (last access 4th of March 2019), §1. GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 78 teachers a course on philosophy and rhetoric so that they would be properly equipped in order to teach their students in these subjects. The topic philosophy and rhetoric would be part of a larger mainly quantitatively oriented project called Robust, which was initiated and lead by the University of Stavanger. The project would imply that half of the 800 students in 8th grade in the municipality would be taught a life skills programme one hour a week for 20 weeks, while the other half would function as control groups and be taught philosophy and rhetorics one hour a week for 20 weeks. The classes in the municipality would be divided randomly between the two programmes. The municipality had been looking for a teaching approach and material that “took its point of departure in the paragraph of aims of the Norwegian Educational Act, in the overarching part of the curriculum and in competence objectives in relevant subjects for secondary school” [1]. Helskog had already written a series of books for practicing philosophy in schools called Dialogos, partly together with the philosopher Andreas Ribe 5 , which could be used directly in the project. Dialogos represents an approach to pedagogical philosophical practice that is characterized by a long5 See i.e. HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Dialogos: filosofi for ungdomstrinnet: elevbok 8. trinn, [Dialogos: philosophy for secondary school. Students`s book 8th grade], Fag og kultur, Oslo, 2006a. Or: HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Dialogos: filosofi for ungdomstrinnet: lærerveiledning 8. trinn, [Dialogos: philosophy for secondary school guide for teachers 8th grade], Fag og kultur, Oslo, 2006b. Or: HELSKOG, Guro Hansen and RIBE, Andreas: Dialogospraktisk filosofi i skolen: elevbok, [Dialogos: practical philosophy in school], Fagbokforlaget, Oslo, 2008. Or: HELSKOG, Guro Hansen and RIBE, Andreas: Dialogosveiledning for lærere og samtaleledere, [Dialogos: guide for teachers and dialogue leaders], Fagbokforlaget, Oslo, 2009. Or: HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Philosophizing the Dialogos Way Towards Wisdom in Education. Between Critical Thinking and Spiritual Contemplation, Routledge, Abingdon-onThames, 2019. WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 79 term oriented philosophical process that has the enhancement of wisdom at its core. In her theory of wisdom, Eeva Kallio 6 , operates with three levels of thinking on the way towards wisdom: Level 1 is absolutism, to be stuck in one’s own viewpoint and unable to take various viewpoints into account. Level 2 is a relativistic multi-perspective attitude: one is now able to understand multiple viewpoints, and becomes much more insecure as to the truth of one’s standpoints. In the final level, integrative thinking, one understands multiplicity, but tries to integrate diversity into a united stance 7 . However, our stance is that the last level of thinking, if we are to call it wisdom, is an ideal that implies several interrelated dimensions that all have to be present in order to call a person “wise”. As an ideal, it needs to be continuously developed and practiced in concrete situations, which are always unique. Thus, it is like a horizon that is always moving away from us as we seemingly move forward. Hence is never reachable once and for all. As outlined and discussed in “Philosophising the Dialogos Way towards Wisdom in Education” 8 , the six dimensions in the Dialogos map for wisdomoriented pedagogyare the existential-emotional, the relationalcommunicative, the cultural-historical, the practical-ethical, the critical-analytical and the spiritual-ideal wisdom dimensions. The map has grown out of Helskog`s more than two decades of philosophical practiceand practical pedagogical experience in secondary and upper secondary schools, in family relationship education at the Norwegian psychiatric hospital Modum Bad, and 6 KALLIO, Eeva (ed.): Development of Adult Cognition. Perspectives from psychology, education and human resources. Routledge, Abingdon-onThames, 2018. 7 Ibidem. 8 HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Philosophizing the Dialogos Way Towards Wisdom in Education. Between Critical Thinking and Spiritual Contemplation, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2019. GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 80 in higher education, while also drawing heavily on classical philosophical traditions as well as modern philosophical practices. The different wisdom dimensions - which all are also represented in various philosophical movements - are preliminary defined as follows: The existential-emotional wisdom dimension implies developing self-knowledge in a broad sense, combined with insight in the universal existential human condition. Moreover, it implies understanding of and the ability to cope with one’s emotional life as part of developing our fully fledged humanity. Philosophers who were concerned with this dimension were, for example, Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer Martin Heidegger or Viktor Frankl, just to name a view. The relational-communicative wisdom dimension implies developing the ability to engage in profound, meaningful dialogue and heart-to-heart communication with others, with the aim of reaching mutual understanding, and thus to engage in the lives of other people in ways that make others and oneself grow. It is also about developing the ability to connect existentially with others, children and adults alike, while at the same time being able to judge when such connecting is inappropriate, and stay within limits that prevents unwanted intrusion into the life world of the other. Martin Buber, with his book “I and Thou” can be mentioned as a well-known representative of and source of inspiration for this dimension, but also Paul Watzlawick 9 . The cultural-historical wisdom dimension implies developing the ability to see oneself as having become a “self” in interaction with people and traditions that are all culturally and historically embedded, and thus developing a more distant perspective on oneself and the context one finds oneself in. It also involves the 9 See i.e. WATZLAWICK, Paul, BEVALIS, Janet B. & JACKSON, Don D.: Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, N.Y., 2014. WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 81 ability to “read” oneself and others as “text” that is con-text-ualized in history and culture that is particular to that context, but which always has universal aspects. One of the representatives of this dimension would be Michel Foucault, for example. The critical-analytical wisdom dimension is maybe the dimension that is most systematically practiced in public education as well as in philosophical practices inspired by Oscar Brenifier, Leonard Nelson, and Matthew Lipman and his Philosophy for Children Program (P4C). It involves developing the ability to critique, analyse, conceptualize, compare, synthesize, create abstractions and make arguments. This dimension is deeply rooted in the philosophy of Kant, as well as so-called analytical philosophy with representatives like the early Wittgenstein, Gottlieb Frege or Bertrand Russel. The next dimension – the spiritual-ideal wisdom dimension -- involves developing openness to the dimensions in life that not necessarily can be grasped in analytic language, and which leaves us in awe, wonder and humbleness regarding the limits of what we can know and express explicitly. It also involves the ability to use imagination and create visions and ideals concerning the conditions of living well in a broad sense, necessary for acting in ethically sound ways 10 . Inspiration for this dimension is as different as the idea of Bildung first developed by Meister Eckhart and expanded by Hegel and others, the idea of aesthetic education and the art of the ideal developed by Friedrich Schiller. In terms of classical philosophy, Patanjali`s classical text on yoga philosophy, and the 10 See i.e. HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Philosophizing the Dialogos Way Towards Wisdom in Education. Between Critical Thinking and Spiritual Contemplation, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2019. Or: WEISS, Michael Noah: “Learning Practical Wisdom? A Guided Imagery for Philosophical Practice on Selfknowledge”, in AMIR, Lydia (ed.): New Frontiers in Philosophical Practice, Cambridge Scholars, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2017a. GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 82 philosophies of Socrates, Plato and Aristoteles, can also be mentioned as inspiration here. The sixth and last wisdom dimension in this model is the practicalethical, which implies developing the ability to act with sensibility in concrete situations, ideally doing the right thing in the right way at the right time toward the right people for the right purposes 11 . This dimension is especially rooted in the virtue ethics of Aristotle, while also Patanjali's yoga sutras are relevant. Here, all the other wisdom dimensions come together in concrete action. Wisdom in the Dialogos model is thus understood as a polydimensional virtue. It embraces one`s relations to oneself, others and the world in a broad sense, including the natural environment and other species, and for the religious person, the transcendent Other 12 . The guiding research question of this project Concretely, philosophising the Dialogos way over time implies that some sessions will typically focus most explicitly on abstractanalytical dimensions, while others will focus most explicitly on existential-emotional dimensions, etc. A Dialogos dialogue process can also be organized by taking one`s point of departure in subject matter, crystallizing a focus point that is then related to the personal 11 See i.e. WEISS, Michael Noah: “Philosophical Mindfulness. An Essay about the Art of Philosophizing”, in HASER – International Journal of Philosophical Practice, Vol. 8., 2017b. Or: HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Philosophizing the Dialogos Way Towards Wisdom in Education. Between Critical Thinking and Spiritual Contemplation, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2019. 12 See HELSKOG, Guro Hansen and RIBE, Andreas: Dialogosveiledning for lærere og samtaleledere, [Dialogos: guide for teachers and dialogue leaders], Fagbokforlaget, Oslo, 2009. Or: HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Philosophizing the Dialogos Way Towards Wisdom in Education. Between Critical Thinking and Spiritual Contemplation, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2019. WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 83 life of participants. From here, there is a movement between phenomenological indwelling, hermeneutical interpretation and analysis in direction of an abstract synthesis, with consensus as a regulative ideal 13 . Based in this understanding of action research on the one side, and of wisdom and wisdom development on the other side, the question we are discussing in this paper is the following: How did teachers experience their own development and the development of their students due to the project, and to what extent might we say that “wisdom and the art of living” are relevant to this development? Operationalization of the research question Since, as we have seen, wisdom and the art of living are complex concepts, it appears to be necessary to operationalize these concepts into a simpler and more practice-oriented term. In this respect phronesis - that is, practical wisdom - seems to be an appropriate term. For the ancient philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle there were two central aspects of wisdom: Sophia and phronesis. Sophia represents theoretical wisdom in terms of universal principles and natural laws, while phronesis, as practical wisdom, is about the awareness to do the right thing in the given situation with regards to living a good life overall 14 . Even though Aristotle assumed that sophia was superior to phronesis, he also thought that developing phronesis was more important since it was mandatory to live a good life (the highest good, according to him). Furthermore, to know what to do in a given situation is also of utmost relevance with regards to the art of living - the one who 13 Ibidem. 14 See i.e. WEISS, Michael Noah: “Philosophical Mindfulness. An Essay about the Art of Philosophizing”, in HASER – International Journal of Philosophical Practice, Vol. 8., 2017b. GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 90 conversation we had based on that, had it that several students came to me afterwards in order to talk about the thoughts they had. Particularly one student (a boy) made a big impression on me when he said “I am not so good in talking about things, but it is a bit as it is with a bun dough that ferments and gets bigger and bigger.” Here is the other one: “The lesson which ended up on the topic of death anxiety and active euthanasia. Specifically challenging and heavy, but important, exciting and informative. In addition, the discussion about the horse vs. the frog was exiting since otherwise passive students engaged quite a lot.” Among the general descriptions there are some which focus on the students, while others have the focus on the dialogue facilitator. Here are examples of those which are student-oriented and where the teacher is surprised about the students’ contributions: “I am impressed and surprised about how reflected and interested the students are” and “(…) the students are interested and I am surprised about their reflection skills – something which is eventually absent in the subjects as such.” Furthermore: “The students have asked for these lessons and they have been pretty open concerning sharing their thoughts about the problems posed in these lessons”, and more concrete: “The students are much more efficient in reflecting when they are forced to take a stance and to defend it. They also like that, and this is something I will take with me for my further teaching.” One points out “that the students should sit in a circle / see each other when they have a plenary session” as his/her most important experience. Several expressed being surprised “that some students, who have not been “on track” so much (in other subjects), have contributed positively in these lessons”, and that the most important concrete experiences, which they had, are about incidents where “quiet, shy students have cast off their shield and dared to argue for view points in the group.” WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 91 From the meta-reflection notes focusing on the dialogue facilitator, one said that “it is challenging to keep a conversation going”, but another one points out “the importance of posing questions in order to keep a discussion alive. This concerns both philosophy as well as other subjects.” One says that the most important experience was the insight “that I don’t have to prepare ‘like hell’ for such a session, but to be open for the discussion to take its own development.” Another teacher points out “the insight/understanding that seeing things from many perspectives increases in-depth learning,” while another one points out the meetings (with the teacher colleagues) as an important experience in the project: “It is difficult to choose one thing, but it was good to be part of a philosophizing community together with colleagues, as a starting point for the lessons we ourselves had to run in the classes.” The third question was formulated as follows: What do you think is the most important learning outcome for your students so far in the project? Here to a certain degree the teachers answered similarly, but the answers can nevertheless be divided into three categories, where the first is also the one with the most responses: 1. Increased self-insight and insight into others 2. Improved skills (“becoming better at”) 3. Better learning environment Ad 1. With regards to increased self-insight and insight into others, the following answers are typical: The students have “a better vocabulary when it comes to feelings and thoughts. They have also become aware of the complexity of emotional life and how everything is interconnected”, and “I think it was good that they GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 92 heard others’ arguments and that this has made them change perspectives now and then.” In addition, they thought that it’s good to spend time with centering meditations. One writes that he or she “hopes that they see the importance of thinking autonomously, to become aware of one’s attitudes, etc.”, and another one “that classmates might have other opinions than what one first thought.” Another experienced that “some students (…) benefit greatly from this because it offers tools for reflecting on one’s own and others’ reaction patterns.” Ad 2. When it comes to improved skills, one writes that the students have become “good in listening to each other and in building on each others’ statements. They have become better in discussing.” Another says that the students still have “many things unresolved, but I appreciate the ability to wonder quite much. To wonder together!” Another one emphasizes that the students have understood that “they think similarly as well as differently about important questions.” Ad 3. When it comes to learning environment one replied that he or she “thinks that they learn more about themselves as well as others, and that this is good with regards to the learning environment too,” while another one writes about “improved learning environment and that all dare to participate in conversations in the classroom.” A third asserts that the students “have become better acquainted with each other and more open towards sharing personal experiences.” Some teachers have obviously not carried out meta-reflections with the students, and can therefore only have vague assumptions about what the students can take with them, while others point out the unpredictability of dialogues: It is just not possible to tell what sticks with the students. One for example writes that he or she “hopes that they have become better to reflect on something,” and another says “hopefully [they still have] reflections and tools to cope with situations in life in a meaningful way.” “In spite of that”, writes another teacher “all students had thoughts and experiences WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 93 which they will, sooner or later, benefit from. They are immature, but they move into the right direction.” To what extent might we say that “wisdom and the art of living” is relevant to this development? In the teachers’ responses to the question “What do you think is the most important learning outcome for your students so far in the project?”, three categories have been identified. The first of them, «increased self insight and insight in others», already gives a clue about the developmental process that the teachers and students underwent in this project. They had raised their emotional (self-) awareness, not only in terms of realizing the emotional complexity around the examined topics but also by developing the respective communicational skills in order to put their observed feelings into words. The development of this ability can be called “emotional intelligence” 17 . With regards to “the art of living well” (“livsmestring” in Norwegian), this ability appears to be of significant relevance because “people with well-developed emotional skills are also more likely to be content and effective in their lives, mastering the habits of mind that foster their own productivity” 18 . Moreover, with respect to emotional selfawareness, also the Socratic “Know thyself” can be brought into account, as a prerequisite for the development of phronesis (that is practical wisdom or prudence). According to Aristotle “Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – this is not easy.” 19 It is phronesis that makes 17 GOLEMAN, Daniel: Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books, Inc., New York, NY, 1995. 18 Ibidem, p. 36. 19 Ibidem, p. ix. GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 94 the difference here, that is, the awareness to do the right thing in the given situation with regards to living a good life overall 20 . In other words, what was fostered with the students (and teachers) due to the Dialogos project was emotional intelligence and phronesis. And both of these abilities appear to be of significance with regards to democracy, citizenship and of course the art of living well (livsmestring). Hence in the model of Helskog 21 , the existentialemotional wisdom dimension implying developing self-knowledge in a broad sense, combined with insight in the universal existential human condition, seemed to have been enhanced somewhat due to the Dialogos project, both in the teachers and their students. This also implies understanding of and the ability to cope with one’s emotional life as part of developing our fully fledged humanity. Other important virtues and skills that were fostered, according to the feedback from the teachers, was learning to listen to and understand each other. This is also reflected in the improved classroom community, which represents the third category of answers on the question. All of these virtues and skills can be called social skills, and it appears to be the dialogical setting as such that supported their development. A dialogue can be understood as a communicative and social setting in the sense of what Matthew Lipman called community of inquiry 22 . As such a dialogue is not a debate or a discussion where the participants compete against each other. On the contrary, a dialogue is an investigative setting, in which the participants examine a question, 20 WEISS, Michael Noah: “Philosophical Mindfulness. An Essay about the Art of Philosophizing”, in HASER – International Journal of Philosophical Practice, Vol. 8., 2017b, p. 103f. Also: HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Philosophizing the Dialogos Way Towards Wisdom in Education. Between Critical Thinking and Spiritual Contemplation, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2019. 21 Ibidem. 22 LIPMAN, Matthew: Thinking in Education, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003, 84. WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 95 a topic, a phenomenon together – with the emphasize on “together”. There are no wrong perspectives or opinions in a dialogue, because different and even contradicting point of views only contribute to a deeper understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. Therefore, what students learn in a dialogical setting is a role model, so to speak, about how to deal with diversity and different opinions in a constructive manner. When it comes to topics like democracy and citizenship this role model, due to its community-building focus, seems to be of significant relevance. Compared to the dimensions of the Dialogos model, it seems that the relational-communicative wisdom dimension, which implies developing the ability to engage in profound, meaningful dialogue and heart-to-heart communication with others, with the aim of reaching mutual understanding, was enhanced. It seems that teachers and students had increasingly begun to engage in the lives of each other in ways that fostered growth. This dimension is also about developing the ability to connect existentially with others, children and adults alike, while at the same time being able to judge when such connecting is inappropriate, and stay within limits that prevents unwanted intrusion into the life world of the other. This was touched upon in the project as well, but it is not possible to interpret whether this ability to judge was enhanced. Several teachers stated that also those students who normally would be rather quiet or unfocused contributed actively in the philosophical dialogues. One can only guess why this was the case, but the setting of a dialogue differs without doubt from those of a debate, a discussion or a conventional lecture. And when the teachers wondered about how capable their students were in terms of reflectiveness then it has to be asked for the potentials of a philosophical dialogue as a “teaching” strategy in general. Such a dialogue invites the students to become active inquirers on the one GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 96 hand 23 . On the other, it often encompasses personal, concrete experiences about the topic under investigation 24 . These experiences are told in a story-like form and then examined by the group without judging the person who told it 25 . This would be different in a debate or a discussion, and even in a conventional lecture were being right or wrong plays a key role. In addition, the story-like experience-sharing makes it easier for the students to get a deeper understanding of the issue at stake. In addition to their competitive character, a discussion or a debate often deals with ideas in a rather abstract way. The same can be the case in a conventional lecture given by the teacher. Research however shows that conveying information by means of telling stories and sharing experiences represents a much more effective way of learning 26 . As mentioned previously, most of the teachers had no experience in facilitating philosophical dialogues but they first learned it in this Dialogos project. Some stated that it is not easy to start such a dialogic learning and keep it going in the classroom. At the same time however, several teachers also gave the feedback that the preparation of a Dialogos session would not consume as much time as the preparation of a conventional lecture, while the philosophical dialogues a such still offer the opportunity for “in-depth” learning. In times where teachers have to take on evermore tasks, especially administrative ones, the advantage of reducing preparation time – which is for sure as important as the time of actual teaching 27 – 23 See ibidem. 24 See i.e. HECKMANN, Gustav: Das sokratische Gespräch: Erfahrungen in philosophischen Hochschulseminaren, Schroedel, Hannover, 1981. 25 WEISS, Michael Noah: “With Life as Curriculum: On the Relevance of the Socratic Method in Norwegian Folk High Schools”, in Journal of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association, Vol. 12, Nr. 3, 2017c. 26 See i.e. BOWER, Gordon H. & CLARK, Michael C.: “Narrative stories as mediators for serial learning”, in Psychonomic Science, Vol. 14, 1969. 27 See BURDEN, Paul & BYRD, David: Methods for Effective Teaching, Pearson, New York, NY, 2018. WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 97 while still maintaining high educational standards, should not be underestimated. Furthermore, though in the beginning of the project some teachers experienced it as challenge to run a dialogue, many of them could see the benefits of the training they received. Besides the reduction of preparation time, the skill of posing good questions, for example, was seen as an additional value that contributed to the teaching in other subjects too, as some teachers have remarked. Though it is not new that posing good questions is highly relevant in a teacher’s practice 28 , this project shows how teachers can improve this skill. Hence, it is possible to say that teachers worked to enhance the practical-ethical wisdom dimension, which implies developing the ability to act with sensibility in concrete situations, ideally doing the right thing in the right way at the right time toward the right people for the right purposes, in this context: exercising good dialogical and pedagogical-philosophical practice. Here, all the other wisdom dimensions come together in concrete action 29 . One question focused on the teachers’ own development both professionally as well as personally. Here, quite diverse answers were sent back to us. On the one end of the spectrum, some teachers again expressed their difficulty with facilitating dialogues. In this respect one must not forget that the majority of the teachers participating in this course had no philosophical or dialogical training from before. This proves that there is a difference between more traditional teaching methods, and the philosophical and dialogical methods promoted through the Dialogos approach. In this respect one has to ask whether and how the skills and attitudes of those teachers who expressed insecurity would have changed, if they would have received further dialogue training and practice. 28 See ibidem, p. 133f. 29 HELSKOG, Guro Hansen: Philosophizing the Dialogos Way Towards Wisdom in Education. Between Critical Thinking and Spiritual Contemplation, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2019. GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 98 However, many of the teachers also stated that they learned a lot due to this Dialogos project, both personally as well as professionally. While some saw the learning outcomes in terms of an extended vocabulary to put existential, emotional and ethical issues into words, others even felt that they have gained the competence to use a dialogical approach in other subjects than philosophy. Another educational aspect that was appreciated by the teachers was that they could get a deeper understanding of the topics they investigated in the dialogues during their training. This is where the critical-analytical wisdom dimension comes in, and this maybe the dimension that is most systematically practiced in public education. It involves developing the ability to critique, analyse, conceptualize, compare, synthesize, create abstractions and make arguments, skills that are also held high in mainstream academic education. However, in the striving to fulfill predefined aims and learning outcomes, it might be reason to suspect that also this wisdom dimension remains underdeveloped, while a more topdown, deductive “copy-didactics” dominates. However, if one wants to facilitate a movement from what Kallio 30 calls an absolutistic level (being stuck in one’s own viewpoint and unable to take various viewpoints into account) towards a relativistic multi-perspective level (being able to understand multiple viewpoints and becoming more insecure as to the truth of one's standpoints), the critical-analytical dimension is crucial. All in all, this points not only towards philosophical dialogue practice as a form of “in-depth” learning as well as peer learning 31 , but it more or less confirms what other philosophical practitioners 30 KALLIO, Eeva (ed.): Development of Adult Cognition. Perspectives from psychology, education and human resources. Routledge, Abingdon-onThames, 2018. 31 See O'DONNELL, Angela M. & KING, Alison (eds.): Cognitive perspectives on peer learning, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, 1999. WISDOM AND THE ART OF LIVING IN 8TH GRADE HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 99 have contested to be among the learning effects of such dialogues, namely: to gain deeper understanding – not only of the topic but also of others and oneself 32 . An important aspect in this respect was also mentioned by one of the teachers, when he or she stated that the participating students had so-called “aha” moments more often. Some pedagogues also call such moments “golden moments” and according to them they significantly contribute to a person’s selfformation 33 . Might such AHA-moments be interpreted as reaching the final level of integrative thinking, where one understands multiplicity, but all of a sudden is able to integrate diversity into a united stance, and see connections one has not seen before? Some of the responses also related to the more rhetorical dimensions of this project. In general terms, several teachers stated that the project helped them to better connect with their students and they also had the impression that they learned respective communication tools, which were important for them as teachers. At this point however, it has to be said that in the feedback from the teachers one could get the impression that their focus and expectation in this project was to learn new skills. This does not come as a surprise. On the one hand because it appears to be a common assumption that in a professional training one learns skills, knowledge and competences in order to improve one’s professional practice. On the other because the teachers did not participate entirely voluntarily – they were signed up for this course. And under such circumstances it should not come as a surprise that several of the teachers were obviously not too enthusiastic about the project in the beginning. Not to mention that their willingness to open up personally was rather low. Under these circumstances it was surprising how much they nevertheless did in 32 STAUDE, Detlef & RUSCHMANN, Eckart (eds.): Understanding the Other and Oneself, Cambridge Scholar Publishing, Cambridge, 2018. 33 OHREM, Sigurd & WEISS, Michael Noah: Myndig medborgerskap. Dialog og danning i folkehøyskolen, Folkehøgskoleforbundet, Oslo, 2019, p. 8. GURO HANSEN HELSKOG – MICHAEL NOAH WEISS HASER. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Aplicada, nº 12, 2021, pp. 75-106 106 STAUDE, Detlef & RUSCHMANN, Eckart (eds.): Understanding the Other and Oneself, Cambridge Scholar Publishing, Cambridge, 2018. TILLER, Tom: Aksjonslæring: forskende partnerskap i skolen, [Action learning: Collaborative research in school], Høyskoleforlaget, Kristiansand, 1999. WATZLAWICK, Paul, BEVALIS, Janet B. & JACKSON, Don D.: Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, N.Y., 2014. WEISS, Michael Noah: “Learning Practical Wisdom? A Guided Imagery for Philosophical Practice on Self-knowledge”, in AMIR, Lydia (ed.): New Frontiers in Philosophical Practice, Cambridge Scholars, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2017a. WEISS, Michael Noah: “Philosophical Mindfulness. An Essay about the Art of Philosophizing”, in HASER – International Journal of Philosophical Practice, Vol. 8., 2017b. WEISS, Michael Noah: “With Life as Curriculum: On the Relevance of the Socratic Method in Norwegian Folk High Schools”, in Journal of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association, Vol. 12, Nr. 3, 2017c. 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