Tackling Extremism Through Philosophy In Schools

This PhD project will aim to analyse specifically negative associations with the term extremism. Depending on the nature of extremism, it can lead to potentially dangerous consequences, and so it should be a priority to manage. Through the medium of philosophy taught in school institutions, it might be possible to prevent extremism due to the values and ways of thinking that philosophy promotes, in particular, critical thinking skills. School seems to be the optimum location to tackle this issue since they possess the power to teach values that are uniform with those fundamental overarching societal values, enlightening students to the vast array of perspectives, as opposed to influence solely from their own background or home environments. Another fact to consider is that school contains the majority of the future generation. It is government law that everyone must attend school and it is this reason that school has the best chance of tackling the ever-growing problem of extremism.

It is incredibly difficult to revise extremist views or consider outside sources - this is evident through Thi Nguyen's (2018) distinction between echo chambers and epistemic bubbles. Epistemic bubbles are relatively easy to escape, and harmless in most cases, however echo chambers are constituent of radicalisation and extremist views which are not as easy to escape. According to Nguyen, in order to escape an echo chamber one would need to face a trauma of relevance to their extremist viewpoint if it is to be upturned. Since such traumatic occurrences are subject to chance, it might be that the best way to escape an echo chamber is to prevent being trapped within one in the first place.

Through the development of intellectual character traits, awareness is raised of the sorts of intellectual entrapments one may face, and so one may prevent becoming radicalised or endorsing extremist viewpoints if suitably prepared.?School has a responsibility to the state to inculcate virtuous behaviour in tandem with the ideology of the state. There have been specific efforts in school to tackle extremism thus far and discuss the kinds of motivation behind terrorist acts, however there have been problematic occurrences within the models by which these values are taught. Quassim Cassam (2018) notes in his criticism of the radicalisation model of deterrence that overemphasis on?British?values has, in some cases, increased a feeling of marginalisation. Philosophy may avoid this pitfall by encouraging the intellectual character to develop in such a way that one thinks critically and virtuously within a more neutral setting, avoiding notions of Britishness and encouraging virtuousness instead, so as to avoid the risk of feelings of exclusion.

Philosophy as a medium may face problems within the system of education based on its effectiveness to educate, according to MacIntyre in his paper: Philosophical Education Against Contemporary Culture. MacIntyre suggests that philosophy 'does not educate' since it encourages students to respond to problems and questions that are irrelevant to their lives. It is also the case that students may not pursue philosophy within further education and so these philosophical questions, to which MacIntyre refers, will only have relevance if the student is planning to pursue further research and specialise in philosophy. Even if they do, a course that purely focuses on the intellectual character and critical thinking skills will still be beneficial for developing a basal disposition to tackle future philosophical issues they encounter.?Philosophy in schools should therefore be tailored to have relevance to real life issues that are inclusive of all young students, so as to allow deeper understanding and engagement.