Jane Gatley (2023): Why Teach Philosophy in Schools? The Case for Philosophy on the Curriculum, London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Which subjects should be taught in schools?And more particularly, should philosophy be included in this list?These general questions are addressed in the philosophy of education.When applied to specific curricula, they are political questions that require political decisions.As philosophers, we think and hope that the answers to the general questions have a bearing on the politicians' decisions.This is one of the motivations behind Jane Gatley's book 'Why Teach Philosophy in Schools?'.During her time as a Religious Education teacher in the UK from 2010 to 2017, Gatley experienced the continuous loss of philosophy in the syllabi of Religious Education.In her book, based on her PhD thesis under supervision of Michael Hand, she makes a case for integrating philosophy into the school curriculum in a manner which is resistant to political, economic, and societal influences (p.2).The need for such a mission may be especially important in countries where philosophy does not have a standing as a regular school subject, but a philosophically founded answer to the question is required independently of the present situation or a particular region.Gatley's claim is "that at some point during a person's education, they ought to be taught some philosophy" (p.2).She does not specify when this should happen.Although this is most likely once students are old enough to engage with philosophical thinking, the claim could potentially be fulfilled by attending a Philosophy with Children class (P4C) in primary school.But this would not be in the spirit of Gatley's argument.Given her understanding of philosophy (as essentially involving conceptual analysis) and her arguments for including philosophy in the school curriculum (which relies on philosophy providing tools for clarifying ordinary concepts and on making sense of the curriculum), it is fair to assume that she claims that philosophy should be taught at high school level.Gatley presents an argument that is impressive both for its breadth and its depth.After a brief survey of the situation of philosophy in schools (ch.1), she presents and counters existing arguments for teaching philosophy in schools (ch.2).She then examines educational aims and argues that none of these offer an adequate account (ch.3).Her own account, which appeals to the utility of theoretical education (ch.4), serves as the basis of the two arguments she develops for teaching philosophy in schools: first, philosophy is best suited to help in thinking clearly about pressing questions concerning ordinary concepts (ch.5), and second, philosophy is most adequate in making sense of the different conceptual schemes that students encounter while studying the content of different disciplines (ch.6).It is to Gatley's great credit that she approaches the question in an analytical way and attempts to provide a sound argument based on the ideals of argumentative strength and conceptual clarity.Anyone concerned with this question should read her book.I will now proceed to analyze some parts of the book in greater detail and make some critical comments.In the first chapter, entitled "A History of Philosophy in Schools", Gatley wants to introduce "the role that philosophy has previously played and currently plays in schools around the world" (p.7); she does so by referring (almost exclusively) to reports of the