本文探討Matthew Lipman的兒童哲學（P4C）與杜威學說的淵源，首先說明杜威的民主教育學說對Lipman的P4C理念之影響，深入探討兩者的契合處，並闡明兒童哲學如何得以實現杜威的「民主即道德」和「教育即探究」之理想。本文接續剖析兩者的潛在歧異，聚焦在兩人對西方哲學傳統的態度，以及對於哲學的界定，希望藉由杜威更宏觀與開放的哲學視野，為兒童哲學在全球化脈絡的發展找出新的定位，使之更臻於「深層民主」之理想。

The paper examines the relationship between Matthew Lipman’s Philosophy for Children (P4C) and Dewey’s views on democracy and education, tracing the influence of Dewey on Lipman, and arguing that P4C can potentially realize Dewey’s idea of “democracy as morality” and “education as inquiry.” The paper also looks at the differences in their attitudes towards the western philosophical tradition and in their conceptions of philosophy. The paper draws from Dewey’s inspirational vision of philosophy to argue for a broader and more open conception of philosophy for P4C as a means to realizing “deeper democracy” in the globalizing world.