Sailing for Philosophy

“Create the essence of an unprecedented life, with the strength of your own thoughts, or be bound to exist at the mercy of circumstances.”

Welcome, this is Jonathan Martins, mostly known for being the wheelchair-bound paraplegic who sailed across the Pacific Ocean alone in 2014.

The essence of the quote above is what made him embark upon another solo journey departing from England to the farthest place on earth one can sail to: New Zealand.

The value of this journey was not in the sailing itself but to Philosophy for Children (P4C), a world wide initiative backed by UNESCO, to bring logic and argumentative reason into conventional education systems.

     Humans of today are quite aware that in the most realistic sense, we at least have a serious waste management problem. Most humans however, do not want to be told how to lead their lives. The contrary, some wars are fought in the name of freedom to deliberate.
     Whilst visiting a friend’s family and being amused by the astuteness of their 3-year old, he wondered why children of early age were not exposed to the method of inquiry taught in philosophy. After some research, it was astonishing to find that some secondary and primary schools in developed countries were already applying such methodology, mostly known as P4C.
     In essence, it exercises the mind to create answers to problems instead of choosing from provided ones. One may argue the biggest problem of our current society.

     Conventional education has not been designed to exercise a child’s cognitive abilities nor “spark” passion for learning. Carl Sagan already publicised that between 2nd and 12th grade, children completely stopped making meaningful questions. Their curiosity for the world vanishes.
     The results are a society who cannot think independently, merely knowing WHAT to think and feel, instead of HOW to think and interpret new encounters with the dynamically changing environment around them.
     P4C is the attempt to create a future for children, constituted of living among individuals who create answers with their own thoughts instead of desperately demanding them from others.

     Learn more about P4C here…>>>
     Find out where I am in the journey here…>>>

“Create the essence of an unprecedented life, with the strength of your own thoughts, or be bound to exist at the mercy of circumstances.”

VOYAGE OF THE LITTLE MINX
ENGLAND to NEW ZEALAND (2016-17)
Distance: 12,700nm (23,500kms)

Isolation

Breaking free

Hard to windward

“Create the essence of an unprecedented life, with the strength of your own thoughts, or be bound to exist at the mercy of circumstances.”

VOYAGE OF THE LITTLE MINXENGLAND to NEW ZEALAND (2016-17)Distance: 12,700nm (23,500kms)

VOYAGE OF THE LITTLE MINX
ENGLAND to NEW ZEALAND (2016-17)
Distance: 12,700nm (23,500kms)