Fathers as philosophers
Many of the world’s greatest philosophers, typically male and Western, could reflect deeply on humanity’s most basic but difficult subjects such as the nature of the universe (metaphysics), what knowledge is (epistemology), how to relate with others (ethics), pleasure, beauty and taste (aesthetics) and even death.
Yet often they have been incapable of grasping the essence of being a father. By two reliable and easily accessible sources of general philosophy, Daily Nous and Leiter Reports, over 12 of these famous and influential sages – from Plato to Thomas Hobbes to Soren Kierkegaard to John Locke to Friedrich Nietzsche to Baruch Spinoza, amongst many others – were childless, and in turn, denied us their own philosophical oracle on fatherhood. Although contemporary male philosophers are mainly fathers, shockingly, little has been written by them regarding fatherhood and even less has been said by them regarding their own fatherhood. This begs the question, should fathers be philosophers? The short answer to this is in the affirmative – logically, every society and every child necessarily benefits from a father who thinks and seeks understanding.
Here is the rest of the answer: if we accept the idea that philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom through asking fundamental questions about life and ourselves and everything in between these two, in his children a father has an enthusiastic partner in this pursuit. This is because children, especially at a young age, perennially ask fundamental questions. (Even in later life, children do ask questions although less often to their fathers and fathers equally pay less attention to them!) Pondering over these questions and actually seeking answers to them may help a father examine them in a new light and with the benefit of intense reflection, experience and maturity.
Yet there is another reason why fathers should be philosophers. As every philosopher is engaged in discovering the truth, the good and the beautiful, correspondingly every philosopher finds delight in being proven wrong and enjoys the humility and opportunity of being in error, in fatherhood as in everything else. Additionally, in being a father, a child will become one of a father’s greatest teachers, since the child joyously embraces the wonders of life around it and in the process reintroduces its father to those wonders, until a father, having been lost to those wonders – by living his life – rediscovers them through the good fortune of being a father. This cycle of learning and re-learning, from the likeliest to the un-likeliest, becomes a paradox – indeed a philosophical conundrum – that knowledge by the one who assumes that they know – a father – can emanate from the one who apparently does not know – a child!
A father as a philosopher, with the tender prompting of his unknowing child, is bound to see that the world is full of discoveries that demand exploration and expression, beyond what he may have perceived simply as a man. Indeed, by approaching the wonders of the world with a keen eye influenced by fatherhood; by discerning those wonders as he would an irresistible person, a father not only has the chance of appearing wise, but also has a unique opportunity of shining light on his world and thus make it meaningful to his children, and any other person who seeks to be liberated from the boundaries of ignorance rather than be defined by them.
Fathers, cannot avoid being able to teach their children what, for lack of better expressions, I will call the philosophy of everyday encounters and the intellect. These would have to be taught sequentially and in this order, depending on the children’s age and level of discernment. In the philosophy of everyday encounters, a father will have to be interested and engaged in the lives of his children, itself a practical act of his love of, and devotion to them, as much as an idea of philosophy – Aristotle’s philia. He will also have to teach his children the basic responsibility to be good citizens, to be exemplary neighbours, to view every person as being unique and worthy of their respect and consideration, and to value knowledge and work (of any kind) over all material things or status, gender, race, pleasure or indolence.
In the philosophy of the intellect, a father will have to foster in his children the embracing of the power and liberty of ideas, by gently and appropriately teaching those children to have inquisitive characters, the richness of imagination, and contemplative minds. These are not a given. They are the results of an efflorescence of a long human culture (admittedly not always successful) that recognises and encourages the primacy of reason and the equality of human beings – from ancient philosophy to the medieval era to the modern period. In fact, with fathers as philosophers, society derives something that extends its highest capacity of thinking, the depth of its human comprehension, and its real-life adonis, reproducing life and ideas simultaneously and endlessly.
Through a young child’s eyes, philosophy can seem inaccessible, intimidating and even boring, perhaps like a father to a teenage child. Reckoning with the uncomfortable fact that fathers and philosophy may not have been good enough separately, fathers need to reconnect with philosophy by freeing it from the realm of the intellect of the brilliant few. Then they must remind themselves that, as fathers, and through their children, they are called upon by their societies to be the apostles of their communities’ higher culture and ideals. For fathers, this apostolic task will always be a work in progress, a labour of platonic love, a task for their communities, the Socrates’ sense of wonder of every philosopher, and since it sets standards of judgement, better performed daily than ever completed. Happy Father’s Day.
*Radipati is a regular Mmegi contributor.