Nasty, Brutish, and Short

This amusing, readable and at times delightful book might have been published under its subtitle alone. These “adventures in philosophy with … kids” shows author Scott Hershovitz, Director of the Law and Ethics program at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and former law clerk for the famous RBG (Ruth Bader Ginsberg) to have developed a humorous and endearing rapport with his two boys Hank and Rex. The adventure begins with two-year-old Hank, half naked, repeatedly yelling “I nee a philosopher.” It turns out he needed a “flosser” device as “der’s fomething fuck in my feeth.” Take it from this reader, the two boys had so many engaging conversations with Dad that they knew from an early age that he was a philosopher, and even if they did not know what a philosopher really did, the more reason to ask lots of philosophical questions. Dad may have regarded his young kids as short, but never nasty or brutish!

It turns out kids ask perennial questions, well known to seasoned philosophers, as when Rex wondered whether he’s been dreaming his whole life. Dad (Scott) has a knack for seamlessly keeping us abreast of both classic and contemporary philosophy by introducing relevant players like Gareth Matthews who noted that “spontaneous excursions into philosophy” are common among kids between the ages of three and seven, or if you prefer there is the opinion of Stanford philosopher David Hills that philosophy is the “ungainly attempt to answer questions that come naturally to children, using methods that come naturally to lawyers.” But young Rex was more succinct in stating “Philosophy is the art of thinking.” Rudolf Steiner would approve!

Not knowing quite what they are, young Hank laments “I don’t have any rights.” When Dad asks: “What are rights?” Hank replies “I don’t know… but I don’t have any.” By the end of the chapter the boys had become little lawyers ready to assess their rights and discuss morality and “the idea of rights and responsibilities.” Even if not using these words, the right to claim or share your toys, or decide what you want to eat or drink offers endless filosphical phodder [my semantics]. The Rights chapter leads to one on Revenge and how to deal with insults and not hit back when attacked. When debating the problem young Rex could argue “two wrongs don’t make a right,” but conceded that just standing up for one’s self against meanness is not so bad “It’s just not good.” Having offered the parental advice to counter peer group insults by saying “I don’t care what you think” young Hank had the last witty word, when Dad said “Good night, I love you” and Hank replied “I don’t care what you think!”

Whether he meant it or not Scott’s adventures with his kids become as much a parenting manual as an effort to share his natural inclination to philosophy and the values it explores. In the chapter on Punishment, Scott cites David Hume and RBG on the general topic of reason v. passion, doing what we ought to, rather than what we might want to in a heated moment. Kids, according to some developmental theories, do not become real people until around six or seven and so need to be habilitated to live with the rest of us rather than punitively rehabilitated (original italics) for infractions of decorum. This is a lesson punitive US culture needs to learn. As in personal relationships demanding justice, taking slights too seriously and playing the outraged victim never works.

“You’re not the boss of me” declared Rex, having learned the phrase in pre-school. Dad (Scott) remembers his authoritarian mother bossing him with: Do it “because I said so.” His philosophic bent towards Authority (Chapter 4) made him want his Mum to tell him ‘why’ she was bossy so he “could argue with her.” Hank had an alternative authority avoidance strategy “I declare independence.” Dad replies “Where are you going to live? … you don’t have a home anymore.” Silence from Hank, until Dad suggested he could live with them if he paid rent. They settled on one dollar!

In a chapter on Language we get into swearing. Kids soon learn that conventional morality regards swearing as bad, but less egregious in uncivilised settings. Philosophical discussion follows on the meaning of “civilised.” A kid’s first “fuck’ can be funny! [I know from experience]. Even linguists can’t explain all the uses of the”F" word (the most versatile in the English language). Why does it work for emphasis in “fan-fuckin-tastic” but not in “fanta-fuckin-stic.” The family had a hilarious episode discussing whether if “poop” is OK, is it OK to say “Oh Shit.” Hank was having a prudish moment, declining to say it, until prodded into bursting out “There’s no fucking way I’m going to say ‘Oh shit!’” Philosophy says Scott is too important to leave to philosophers as the Chapter on Sex, Gender and Sports reminds us.

Much fodder for topical discussion, especially for boys, when citing examples of women beating men in open competition. Fun facts: there is a book entitled Testosterone: an unauthorized biography, and did you know that one Jasmin Paris ran a 268 mile / 3-day race 12 hours faster than any man? Today gender and race issues (next chapter) are horribly controversial, so imagine how different parents might react when Rex announced “I wish I was Black.” When asked why, his answer was because “White people do lots of mean thinks to Black people.” [Let’s hope not all]. Not to be outdone Hank follows with “My skin is not really white. It’s kinda pink with a little bit of brown.” [From the mouths of babes]! We are reminded of Frederick Douglass, who despite saying slavery was “the great sin and shame of America” went on to say that he did “not despair of this country” which could hope to live up to its “Great principles.” [Again, let’s hope so].

The next three chapters on Knowledge, Truth and Mind begin with the Zhuang Zhou paradox of the butterfly dream (versus the apparent waking experience of being a man). Hank, when asked, thought hard and asked if Zhuang Zhou was tired. If not, then he had just woken up and the butterfly dream was a dream. When it was suggested that his mother might just be a character in his dream, Rex said “Then I don’t want to wake up.” Descartes’ Cogito ergo sum classic provides more fodder for philosophers of all ages. And perhaps only a rare philosopher’s son (Rex), age seven, would make a birthday card that said: I love you, therefore I am.

While opining on “Truth” young Rex cannot believe Trump “lies so much” but he considers he was “a bad president” to us, but “good to the people who like him” and so the discussion of relative and objective truth ensues, as Hank refuses to believe his Dad if he says you may think your eight but I think your six. Here again Hank had objective truth on his side. Hank also said he did not know if the tooth fairy was real, or if it was Daddy, but he did not really need to know if his Mummy promised to tell him the truth before he was a Daddy. Mind games can be philosophically healthy as when Dad says after you take off your clothes take off your thoughts, to which Hank replied. I can’t they are “not here.” Space does not permit comment on the oft-recycled debates between Daniel Dennett (Consciousness Explained: some say explained away!) and David Chalmers’ opinions on the so called ‘Hard Problem.’ Peter Strawson’s take on mind-body issues is refreshingly simple: we know we are physical stuff that experiences the world, so there is no problem “explaining” consciousness. We just need to know where it “fits in.”

The book closes with Chapters on Infinity, God and How to Raise a Philosopher, and examples of how kids can come to the same conclusions as Lucretius or Isaac Newton. We are reminded that Science was once called Natural Philosophy, and Rex reminds us that even though some say we miniscule humans are as nothing in a vast universe “we matter to us.” When four-year-old Rex asked if God was real, and Dad asked “what do you think?” the stunning answer was “I think that, for real, God is pretend, but for pretend, God is real.” Enter some Pascalian philosophy when Hank was asked the same question at aged seven. His reply was that he didn’t like to talk about it because God would be insulted “if he’s real.”

Rex, when age nine, thought that his Dad writing about their conversations about God “could be offensing to some people.” Dad and sons often reviewed their previous thoughts and conversations, as toddlers became the Socrates of Second Grade, sometimes concluding that they did not always know what to think. Scott Sampson wrote a book “How to Raise a wild Child” (Network 118) suggesting as much engagement with nature as possible. Scott Hershovitz has shown the benefits of engaging kids in philosophy, and having his kids understand it involves “the art of thinking.” If I were to boil down the Hershovitz message to one word it would be “engagement” and the many adventures that ensue when you, your kids, friends and family truly engage in the world of mind, humour and meaningful communication.