\n<\/p>\n
Jay Miller\u2019s account of teaching philosophy in prison is powerful and welcome (\u2018You want to talk about a world of lies?\u2019 Teaching philosophy in prison, 9 September). This kind of \u201cpublic philosophy\u201d, which includes the excluded, is of profound value, he\u00a0argues. Remarkably, philosophy in prisons is \u201cA kaleidoscopic assortment of jokes, stories, anecdotes and philosophical insights \u2026\u201d This picture is familiar for the UK charity\u00a0Philosophy in\u00a0Prison. <\/em><\/p>\n The puzzle of Trigger\u2019s broom, for example, can generate a joyous discussion of identity, time, the rights of work, relativism, freedom and responsibility, and happiness \u2013\u00a0where the whole room is focused\u00a0and participating.<\/p>\n For such intractable questions, no one in the room has a definitive answer, neither the \u201cprofessional\u201d philosophers, nor those wondering about Trigger for the first time. So philosophical discussion has an equalising effect \u2013 everyone is puzzled, no one is disqualified from having a view, nor from arguing it well. It seems obvious that this kind of work is important for its own sake as well as for its effect on\u00a0participants. But one feature of the prison population in the UK that Miller does not address directly is the high levels of\u00a0functional illiteracy.<\/p>\n Offering prisoners university courses works for those who read and feel comfortable with writing. But philosophy can be done just by conversation, to include both those with high levels of education and those who have little. Anyone may participate; disagreement itself generates a toleration that manifests itself on the wing; and educational doors open afterwards. Philosophy in Prison does philosophy just by talking, in the anomalous public space of prison, and it matters\u00a0for\u00a0anyone in the room. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jay Miller\u2019s account of teaching philosophy in prison is powerful and welcome (\u2018You want to talk about a world of lies?\u2019 Teaching philosophy in prison, 9 September). This kind of \u201cpublic philosophy\u201d, which includes the excluded, is of profound value, he\u00a0argues. Remarkably, philosophy in prisons is \u201cA kaleidoscopic assortment of jokes, stories, anecdotes and philosophical<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1023,13328,6697,2413],"class_list":{"0":"post-21722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-effect","9":"tag-equalising","10":"tag-philosophy","11":"tag-prisons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Mary Margaret McCabe<\/strong>
Professor of <\/em>ancient <\/em>philosophy <\/em>emerita, King\u2019s College London; <\/em>Chair of trustees, Philosophy in Prison<\/em><\/p>\n