摘要：If the casting philosophy in the modality of fictional narrative is one way of dramatizing philosophy, the devising of philosophical discussion plans and exercises is another. This may at first seem to be stretching a point: exercises are among the most humble tools of education and would seem to be totally lacking in the glamorous glow that radiates from the more heavily dramatized portions of the curriculum. And yet, the case can be made that discussion plans and exercises, properly constructed, can embody the praxis of philosophy in an acceptable fashion, and at times can do so superbly. Would-be classroom teachers of philosophy need models of doing philosophy that are clear, practical and specific. They need to be able to distinguish essentially decidable concepts from essentially contestable concepts, if they are to understand why only the latter are truly philosophical. The same is true with respect to other aspects of philosophical practice: teachers in preparation need to be able to distinguish the non-philosophical from the philosophical and the pseudo-philosophical when it comes to questions, counter-questions, follow-up questions, inferences, justifications and so on. They need to be able to tell philosophical epistemology from psychological epistemology. But above all, they must be prepared to see that these differences may lie more in the function than in the form. What makes a question philosophical rather than non-philosophical may lie not in the verbal form of the sentence but in the circumstances under which it is uttered, and it is only through the repeated exposure to the doing of philosophy that such circumstances come to be recognized.
