Matthew Lipman (August 24, 1923 in Vineland, New Jersey â December 26, 2010 in West Orange, New Jersey) is recognized as the founder of Philosophy for Children. His decision to bring philosophy to young people came from his experience as a professor at Columbia University, where he witnessed underdeveloped reasoning skills in his students. His interest was particularly on developing reasoning skills by teaching logic. The belief that children possess the ability to think abstractly from an early age, led him to the conviction that bringing logic to children's education earlier would help them to improve their reasoning skills.