HOW CAN PHILOSOPHICAL EDUCATION CONTRIBUTE TO THE DENIAL OF RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE?

This study aims to reveal the capacity of children's philosophical education in their spiritual development and its efficiency in promoting peace and the denial of religious violence. While analysing the model of philosophical education, this article briefly examines its principles, goals and methods. It then investigates the impact of this educational program on improving children's peaceful behaviours and enhancing their communicational skills with others in order to reduce violence. Field studies have shown that failure in self-expression, inability to self-control and self-restraint, low level of tolerance, imposition of radical and monopolistic ideas, dogmatism and weakness in reasoning are the most significant causes of religious violence in children. Therefore, one of the essential missions of the educational system should be to create a friendly and safe environment where the grounds and causes of violence are not possible. One of the most significant functions of philosophical education is to strengthen skills such as open-mindedness, critical-reasoning thinking, empathic thought to promote a culture of tolerance and teaching an aesthetic view of existence that leads to the love of God and His creatures. The findings show that the development of these skills through philosophical education can improve their relationships with fellow human beings in an empathetic and rational atmosphere and thus, reduce religious tension and violence.