Philosophy over dinner–with children.
Generally, I like philosophy that states the obvious in an obvious way. It is easy, I believe, to ignore how obvious things that are obvious are.
In my personal experience, children are excellent at doing this. In fact, I suspect that, since they are not philosophizing when they do it, they are often better at stating the obvious in plain and clear terms than most professional philosophers—myself included—are.
Here is one example that just occurred over dinner between me and my four-year-old son, Tomas:
Father: Tomas, how does your milk taste?
Son: Like milk.
Father: Like milk?
Son: Yes.
Father: Well that sounds reasonable!
Son: Yes; wouldn’t it be silly if it tasted like lettuce? (son laughing)
Father: Indeed! (both laughing)
See?
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A month or so ago at the dinner table Oscar sat back in a self-satisfied way and proclaimed: “I recognize I’m happy.”
Nice, Brett. I take these kinds of comments very seriously and think philosophers are remiss to ignore the clarity and utterly unrehearsed statements of children…
Sam
If the kid doesn’t have an advanced degree from a prestigious institution, I ain’t listening.
Ha!
Sam