LET’S GET PHILOSOPHICAL
What’s the purpose of being alive? Where was I before I was born? Where do I go when I die? American philosopher Scott Hershovitz answers questions that confound children and adults alike
CHILDREN are constantly wrestling with questions about metaphysics and morality. But most adults in their lives don’t notice or, even worse, discourage them when they do. I’m a philosopher and a father. I’ve got two boys, Rex and Hank. They’ve been asking philosophical questions since they were little, and they try to answer them too. They’ve recreated ancient arguments and advanced entirely new ones. People are sceptical when I say that.
“Sure, your kids are philosophical,” they respond. “But you’re a philosopher. Most kids aren’t like that.”
They’re wrong, though. Every child is a natural philosopher. They’re puzzled by the world and they try to figure it out. And they’re good at it too. Kids are clever and courageous thinkers. In fact, adults can learn a lot from them – as these questions posed by children demonstrate.
I SOMETIMES FEEL LIKE I’M THE ONLY REAL PERSON AND EVERYONE ELSE IS A ROBOT. HOW CAN I KNOW IF THAT’S TRUE? – URSULA (8)
Have you checked your family and friends for circuit boards and fuse boxes? I’d give them a good look if they’re acting like robots.
I’m kidding. If they were really good robots, you wouldn’t be able to tell, at least not without cutting them open. And let’s not do that, since they’d get hurt if your hypothesis were wrong.
And it probably is! I can’t say for sure. Because it’s hard to say anything for sure. A French philosopher named René Descartes once tried to imagine that everything he believed was wrong. He didn’t suppose the people around him were robots, since they hadn’t been invented. Instead, he imagined that an evil demon was filling his head with falsehoods – that none of the people or things he thought he knew actually existed.
But even if a demon were trying to trick him, Descartes thought there was one thing he could know for sure: that he existed. After all, he was thinking about the possibility that a demon was trying to trick him. And to think, you have to exist – or as Descartes put it, “I think, therefore I am.”
You’re in the same position. You know you’re real. But what about everyone