Get Your Learners Thinking About Life, The Universe and Everything in Between
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🎯 168 philosophical questions that challenge learners to analyse, critique and reflect.
🎯 Suitable for secondary (mainly KS4 and KS5).
🎯 Browse for questions that pique your interest or use the contents page to choose at random.
🎯 Develop philosophical debates in your classroom with little or no planning required.
🎯 Get learners thinking about some of the biggest debates and most important concepts in the history of philosophy.
When I created The Philosophiser, I wanted a tool I could use in lessons and after-school clubs that required zero planning but which also had an element of fun and mystery for my learners.
Inside the resource, you’ll find 168 philosophical questions covering areas like epistemology, metaphysics, language and the nature of self.
Each question is on a different slide/page.
The contents page has 168 buttons, each linked to a question.
All you need to do is display the contents page on the board, then either you or one of your learners chooses a question at random.
If you like it, start your discussion.
If not, go back to the contents page and try again.
Easily Spark Deep-Thinking Debates and Discussions
One of my favourite uses of The Philosophiser was when I ran after-school clubs for more-able learners at KS4 and KS5.
We’d often start a session by firing up The Philosophiser, selecting a question at random, and beginning a discussion.
That would lead into further questions and avenues of thought that we would explore through the session.
As you’ll see when you download it, the resource really does make facilitating critical discussions as easy as can be.
The resource is FREE to download and FREE to use.
It is published by Gershon Learning Limited under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons license.
That means you can download it, freely share it and redistribute it with attribution and a link to this site, but you cannot use it for commercial purposes or create any derivatives of it.
Download The Philosophiser Today
Here’s the PDF version for you to download FREE:
What’s Inside?
Here’s a sneak peek of some of the questions waiting for you inside The Philosophiser:
- 💭 Why is there something rather than nothing?
- 💭 Can you prove you are not a figment of my imagination?
- 💭 What is the nature of justice?
- 💭 Are there different types of knowledge?
- 💭 Does the universe have purpose?
- 💭 To what extent are our actions determined?
- 💭 Are you the same person now as you were twenty minutes ago?
- 💭 What is knowledge?
- 💭 Does language condition our thinking?
- 💭 Is it possible to be objective?
- 💭 Do ideas exist outside of physical reality?
- 💭 What are the limits of tolerance?
- 💭 What are the characteristics of personhood?
- 💭 Do human beings have autonomy?
- 💭 Is there an ultimate truth?
In total, you’ll find 168 questions, touching on different aspects of philosophy.
Many of the questions invite a critique – so you and your learners can have as good a discussion unpicking the questions as you can seeking to answer them.
And when you do reach an endpoint in your discussions, try making a note of whatever question you discussed and returning to it a couple of months later to see if learners still stand by their earlier positions.
This is often enlightening for both you and them.
Using The Philosophiser in Your Planning
The Philosophiser is non-directive and curriculum agnostic.
You can use the resource any way you like.
Here are three ideas to get you started.
✅ If you teach a subject like philosophy or religious studies, use The Philosophiser as a starter activity.
Display the contents page and invite one or more learners to shout out what question number they want.
Click on the relevant button and then use the question that appears as the basis of a philosophical discussion with your class.
✅ Use The Philosophiser as a no-plan extension generator.
When a learner finishes their work, open up the resource and either invite them to choose a question at random to think about, or scroll through together and find one that interests them.
Develop by setting learners a task they must do in response to the question.
For example: ‘Can you come up with an answer to the question that uses at least one concept we’ve looked at this term?’
✅ With your class, pick out five questions at random from The Philosophiser by choosing from the numbered buttons on the contents page.
Write these on the board, so they are visible for all to see.
Explain to learners that you want them to work in pairs to rank these questions from ‘hardest to answer’ to ‘easiest to answer’, and that they must be ready to justify their choices.
P.S. You can access all my resources in one place on the free resources hub page.
