Teaching Philosophy through problems

or why philosophy teaching is problematic 

Do trees have rights?

Are all bachelors (really) unmarried?

And will meat-eaters get into heaven?

There are over 25 million of Martin Cohen's Philosophy Problems and Dilemmas now sold worldwide, from Outer Mongolia to Inner London - even one or two copies have been spotted in France, sneaking past Gallic controls on philosophy quality...! Not to entirely discount the role of well as over 1000 websites quoting or referring to the problems or dilemmas. 

And even if the first figure relies on the multiplying effect of having 100 problems in each book, and the second includes website references that my be rather fleeting, not to say dismissive, it is still true that the various '101 Philosophy' books have become something of a 'movement', not just a single event. 

So what is that movment? Certainly, it is towards philosophy as an activity and away  from philosophy as a settled body of knowledge. It is towards ethics as a recipe for living and away from ethics as a dry theoretical debate. And in schools and universties, it is about liberating students from passive learning and opening up instead possibilities for creativity and originality.

Here Martin Cohen and others outline some of the key ideas behind 'the Philosophy 101s'.

Zenon Stavrinides on 101 Philosophy Problems 
[http://www.the-philosopher.co.uk/reviews/101revs.htm]

Martin Cohen: 101: Theoretical and Pedagogical Notes 
[http://www.the-philosopher.co.uk/reviews/101pedagogical-notes.htm]

Two typical examples of philosophical problems are here.
[http://www.the-philosopher.co.uk/101problems.htm]

Practical Notes
[http://www.the-philosopher.co.uk/reviews/using101.htm]

101 Reviews 
[http://www.the-philosopher.co.uk/reviews/202revs.htm]

101 Caught in the Web
[http://www.the-philosopher.co.uk/reviews/101websites.htm]