A、Should the tree give its shade to the boy? B、Should the tree give that much to the boy? C、How should we treat natural objects?

A few times each month, second-grade pupils at a primary school take time from math and reading to engage in philosophical debate.  (32) Prof. Wartenberg and his undergraduate students from a nearby college use classic children’s books to raise philosophical questions, which the young students then analyze with the vigor of the ancient Greeks.
     (33)"A lot of people try to make philosophy into a subject only for the excellent few," says Professor Wartenberg, "But everyone is interested in basic philosophical ideas; they’re the most basic questions we have about the world."
     One afternoon this winter, the students read a story "Giving Tree" about a tree that gives its shade, fruit, branches and finally its trunk to his friend  a boy. (34)The college students led the discussion--how we should treat natural objects, with a series of questions, starting with whether the boy was wrong to take so much from the tree.
     "We don’t actually try to convince them that trees deserve respect," he says, "but ask them, ’What do you think? ’ We’re trying to get them engaged in the practice of doing philosophy, versus trying to teach them."
     He is not the first philosopher to work with children. In the 1970s, Matthew Lipman argued that children could think abstractly at an early age and that philosophical questioning could help them develop reasoning skills. (35)Professor Lipman’s view opposed that of Jean Piaget, who asserted that children under 12 were not capable of abstract reasoning. He concluded that their curiosity and sense of wonder make children ready for philosophic inquiry.