university

Philosophy with University students

Bijak’s programme ‘Philosophy with University students’ is aimed at students in universities
or other institutions of higher learning in Indonesia and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

This programme teaches philosophical skills (logical reasoning, critical thinking and conceptual analysis)
rather than philosophy texts such as Plato or Aristotle.

What is Philosophy with University students?

This programme trains participants to apply philosophical skills (logical reasoning, critical thinking and conceptual analysis) to explore issues relevant to their current life as well as their future. Led by a BIJAK facilitator, the students explore concepts such as freedom, rights, justice, moral values, friendship, love, etc. They engage in questions and answers that help them develop their personality and think more clearly about their future.

How is the session conducted?

The session is led by a BIJAK facilitator who instructs, guides and engages the students to participate actively. A stimulus is used to start the discussion. This can be a story, a picture, a video clip, or even an idea.  The students sit in a circle and take turns to express their opinions, ask questions and build on each other’s ideas. The result is more knowledge and a deeper understanding of the topic under discussion, besides improved confidence, better discernment and greater resilience to face life’s challenges.

A philosophical education is 'useful and effective in ... building an individual's personality, fighting against feelings of failure in school or of personal failure, preventing violence, educating people to live together in and through debate and to be citizens in a democracy, linguistic mastery in the interaction between thought and language, learning to engage in personal, critical reflection,
independent judgement, communicating technical knowledge and self-discipline.'
unesco
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

benefits of
philosophy with university students

  • Better problem-solving abilities to deal with difficult peers, people and situations.
  • Better decision-making through improved analysis and reasoning, leading to sensible judgement and responsible behaviour.
  • Increased resilience and greater capacity to manage the stresses of daily life – by learning to discern the true significance of any and every situation and event.
  • Improved confidence to resist pressures from peers, social networks and the media industry to conform to unrealistic or unattainable models and references.
  • Development of social skills such as empathy, tolerance and acceptance of diversity through better emotional awareness and criticism of preconceived or imposed ideas.
  • Better discernment to filter out (dis)information, deceptive advertising, propaganda and fake news.