This PPT has 12 topics that I use to teach during the Enlightenment Unit in my 7th grade class. The topics are all very deep, and I find most of my 7th graders on the edge of their seats, but a few of them are quite lost. It would certainly work for older grades, but any younger than 7th grade might be a little too young to grasp. I spend anywhere from 10-30 minutes as an opener each day discussing the 'Philosophy Lesson of the Day" with my students. The topics include (in no particular order):
* Pascal's Wager
* 'If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
* Plato's theory of forms
* Kant's views on God and morals
* The law of non-contradiction
* Examining the claim: "The only truth is that there is no truth"
* What causes war?
* Philosophical implications of the 2nd law of thermodynamics (entropy)
* Survey or religions and philosophies
* Rationalism vs. Empiricism
* Is man good or evil?
* Consequences of ideas (Kant to Nietzsche to Hitler)