Why vote? A reflection on the democratic nature of dialogical inquiries

In the inquiriesInquiry, as practiced in the P4wCPhilosophy for/with Children (P4wC)community, votingVote/Voting is a common feature: after the stimulusStimulus (usually a story or a picture), the students get the opportunity to bring forward the philosophical questions they would like to explore. One of these questions is selected by a voteVote/Voting. Arguments for voting as a procedure are practical (it is a quick way to come to a decision) and political (choosing the question shows that the students are in charge; they are the owners of the inquiryInquiry). The current practices of voting generate a number of important questions, both from the perspective of democracyDemocracy and of reasonablenessReasonableness. Among others, we will argue that the practice that voting equals “the majority decides” does not take the rights of the minority into consideration. We will recommend a more comprehensive look at the use of votingVote/Voting from the perspective of ownershipOwnership by the students.