Learning from Suffering in the Community of Philosophical Inquiry: “Leaving our Grasping Egos Behind”

Drawing insights from Buddhism and Stoicism, in this paper I shall provide a sketch of a theory of suffering according to which suffering depends on our desires that reality be in a certain way and the belief that reality differs from how we desire it to be. Then I shall argue for two further claims: that most of our desires, in turn, depend on our beliefs; that most of our beliefs, in turn, depend on our philosophical beliefs. In this way I shall argue that most of our suffering depends on our philosophical beliefs. This view has far-reaching educational implications. In this paper, I shall explore some of these implications for moral and civic education in the context of the pedagogy of the Community of Inquiry elaborated by Matthew Lipman, Ann Sharp, and colleagues within the educational movement of Philosophy for Children. By paying attention to our suffering in dialogue, we can learn which desires and beliefs make us suffer, and through dialogic inquiry we can explore whether our desires and beliefs are rational and, if not, we can eventually learn through practice and inquiry to relax their hold on us, which is crucial for both moral and civic growth.