This past Saturday (9/18/26), I ran my teen/tween philosophy workshop “Wonder, Reason, and Judgement: Exploring Philosophy” at the Decatur Library for the first time since last summer. Though I’ve run this workshop before, this was the first time I actually got to test out my “Philosophy of Art” workshop mini-unit, asking workshop participants (all between the ages of 9 and 15) what they think counts as art and what they think doesn’t. In brief, it outperformed my expectations.
I asked students to take a few minutes to draw two things: first, something that counts as art, and second, something that doesn’t. I wish so badly that I had had the presence of mind during the workshop to snap photos of the the “non-art” our students drew because the results were stunning. Not a single participant drew the same kind of thing for their “non-art.” The pictures they shared with the group included:
- A blank image (because everything drawn is art)
- A drawing that was the exact same as something they remembered their sibling drawing (because art must be original)
- A drawing that was supposed to be AI-generated (because art must be made by humans)
- A drawing of a bowl of ice cream, where it was specified that the ice cream itself, but not the drawing, was non-art (because art has to be a representation of a thing, not the thing itself)
The students’ drawings led to an engaging conversation about how we do, and should, define art which had participants buzzing even as we finished up our time together. The exercise was a fantastic conversation starter, and I am so thankful that I read something on PLATO‘s website many years ago that gave me the idea for this activity, even if I can’t find the source of that inspiration now. Thanks so much to the Decatur Library for continuing to give me a space to share philosophy with students in our community and for my colleague Nathan Nobis for his help facilitating the workshop!
While the workshop was self-contained, it was also a sort of kick-off event for a new program at the Decatur Library I’m leading this academic year. I’m happy to announce that I’ll be running the Decatur Library’s first-ever (to my knowledge) Philosophy CLUB for students! Modeled on the library’s book clubs, our Philosophy Club will meet monthly for an hour to cover philosophical topics of interest to students in our area. You can learn more and register a student for our first Philosophy Club meeting at the library’s website here. I can’t wait to build on the enthusiasm these young learners have for philosophy and see where our inquiry takes us!
Daniel J. Peterson 