At the heart of AIRE’s practice of public philosophy lies the Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI), a methodology rooted in Philosophy for Children (P4C). Originally developed to cultivate dialogue among children, it has since proven to be a powerful tool for communities of all ages.

A CPI creates a space where participants collectively explore a philosophical question, usually sparked by a shared stimulus such as a story, image, work of art, or experience. The role of the facilitator is not to provide answers, but to guide the dialogue so that the group itself can build tentative answers together. Through this process, participants learn to give reasons, consider counterexamples, make distinctions, and challenge assumptions, always in dialogue with one another.

What makes this practice distinctive is its collective orientation. In times of growing polarization and individualism, the CPI fosters a sense of shared inquiry that resists fragmentation. It slows down the pace of discussion, allowing people to listen carefully, to think with and through others, and to cultivate patience with complexity. This is particularly crucial when addressing collective challenges such as climate disruption and social inequality, which cannot be solved by technical solutions alone, but require us to rethink values, responsibilities, and relationships.

The CPI is also self-corrective: it invites participants to test their convictions in a public space, to acknowledge limits, and to change their minds in response to better arguments. In this way, it becomes both a deeply democratic and a deeply caring practice, one that values every participant’s voice while asking each to remain open to others. Beyond critical thinking, it nurtures caring and creative thinking, since many of the questions explored touch directly on what matters most in our shared lives.

For AIRE, this methodology represents a vital form of public philosophy: a practice that brings philosophy out of academic enclosures and into the spaces where people live, struggle, and imagine futures together. It is not a luxury but a necessity in a world marked by rupture and uncertainty, where collective imagination and responsibility are urgently needed.

Michela, Lucy, and Chiara are trained practitioners in Philosophy for Children, having completed programs at Mendham’s IAPC Summer Course and at Montclair State University’s Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. The Institute’s website also provides an overview of what Philosophy for Children is.