What does it look like when kids try to reason like philosophers? Would they flail pathetically? Or might they surprise us with their wisdom? Our newsletter staff wanted to get to the bottom of this issue, which meant finding children and testing how well they did on two fundamental philosophical tasks: asking big questions, and answering big questions.
One kid I got to speak with was Charlie Messina (age 6). I asked her if there were any big questions that had been bothering her that she would like a professional philosopher to answer. After pondering for a moment, she posed the following questions (questions have been lightly edited for clarity):
First of all, even though I don’t believe in God, how did he get formed? He couldn’t have formed himself because if he did he could have formed lots of other things that he didn’t form, like why did he start with only two people in the bible story?
Second of all, how could God exist, because humans have changed from a long time ago? It started from fish, to apes, to cave men, other people who are from the 80’s, and then it turned into us, and it developed, so God couldn’t have made it develop, it developed itself, and we know that from science not from facts (sic).
Third of all, what happens to you when you die? I think it is very sad for other people and your family cause you go away and they never see you. But all things have to come to the end. Because if God created a world where no one died there wouldn’t be any space, literally. Everyone would be squished together. Our families would be like ten children, seventy adults, ten million grandmas and grampas, ten thousand aunts [ants?] and way too many dogs and kitties. Even though it is sad, no one knows what really happens when you die. You might go to live with someone else and start another life. But I think you probably die, sit there for a little bit, then just turn into dirt.
Fourth of all, how would they recognize you after you die if you go to heaven? Cause you might change in different ways, like your hair, or your beard, or what you are good at, like maybe you were good at making fruit salad but then you aren’t. So people wouldn’t notice you again.
Philosopher Steve Nadler graciously accepted the challenge of answering Charlie’s questions. His answers are below.
Question 1: This is a very good question, and many philosophers have tried to provide a reasonable answer to it. They pretty much all agree that God was not “formed”, if you mean by that that God was caused to come into being or to exist after not existing at all. It’s not like God did not exist, and then something (some other God?) brought God into existence. God is typically defined as an eternal being, which means God never did not exist. God is, in other words, uncreated. Some philosophers say that this means that God’s existence has no cause; others say that this means that God is self-caused, that God’s being is its own cause. In either case, there is nothing distinct from God that “forms” God. So, let’s say that God did kind of “form himself” — is self-caused. It is still possible that there are lots of other things that God did not form. But that’s OK, isn’t it? People who believe in God do not think that God formed everything that could be formed. God did not form unicorns or flying pigs. And God did not form three people at creation — only two. When people think of God as a creator, they typically believe that God chooses to make some things but not others.
Question 2: Another good question. If God is an eternal unchanging being, why would a world created by God change? But maybe there’s not a problem here. Let’s assume that God does exist. Now imagine that God creates some things. There are then two options after this. One option is that God is constantly causing things to change and develop over time. But that does seem weird, since we would have an eternal God constantly acting in space and time, always involved in doing things in the world, which would seem to mean that God itself is changing all the time (since when we do things we change). Another option, though, is that God creates things, sort of sets them in motion but then leaves them alone so that they change and develop in various ways. Even if God does not change, can't God at least create things that do change? Here’s another example: Imagine that you create a baby monster — can’t you think of that baby monster growing into an adolescent monster, then a teenager monster, then an adult monster, without you yourself changing in any way?
Question 3: There is probably no one who has not wondered about this at some time in their life. Yes, it is very sad for those who love you when you die. And it is very sad to think about your own death. We do not want to die, especially if we are enjoying our life. But you are right — all things must come to an end. That is life. Hopefully, things do not come to an end too soon, and you get to live a long, full and happy life, and so do your loved ones. But eventually, everyone dies. Would it be better if we did not die, if we were immortal? As you say, eventually there would be too many of us. Would the earth be able to sustain so many generations of people who keep on having more and more children and never die? Could we produce enough food? Would we end up taking over all the space, eliminating all other species of animals, even destroying our planet? Besides, would you want to be immortal, to never die? Would that get boring after a while? So the real question is: how long would you want to live?
Question 4: Here is how philosophers like to think about this question: Let’s assume that there is a heaven or some kind of afterlife, and after you die you go there. In order for this heaven to be meaningful to me, to the me who exists now — in order for me to care about it at all — I would like to be sure that it is the same me who is in heaven. Why should I care about heaven if it’s not me who is there? But what would it take for it still to be me? What is the “me” who is in heaven, anyway? Is it the exact same me who is presently alive, only existing in some other kind of world (maybe now with wings)? Will I still have a body? Am I even something visible at all — like a ghost or an angel? Or perhaps I am just a kind of “soul” or thinking, without a body. Do I still have memories of my life in this world? Do I have the same likes and dislikes? However you want to answer these questions, we would like to be sure that the heaven in which we end up will be a place where we are united with our family and friends — that is what would seem to make it worthwhile. How will they recognize us? Well, even in this world we recognize each other despite the changes we undergo — our physical changes, our changes in personality and in our likes and dislikes. We all grow up and develop, and yet we recognize each other even after many years and many different changes. So perhaps the changes we undergo between life in this world and, if there is a heaven, in that world will not keep us from recognizing each other.
Charlie seemed to do alright at asking big questions. But how would she fare at answering them? The following is a transcript of our discussion. I leave it to the reader to judge how she did.
Me: Did someone create the world?
Charlie: Yes, it had to be by someone whose name is ‘God’ or the world has just been around for ages and ages not created by anyone. Maybe it was just ready. Next question.
Me: What makes something right and what makes something wrong?
Charlie: There’s two meanings of right, like turn to your right, there’s also right, like ‘you are right’ which you say when you mean they are correct.
Me: I was thinking of right in the sense of ‘murdering someone isn’t right’ or ‘telling the truth is right.’
Charlie: Wrong is when you shouldn’t do something, cause it is bad and cruel sometimes like where you might hurt someone. Right is nice, like helping someone or telling the truth. Right and wrong are opposites
Me: Why should you do things that are nice and not cruel?
Charlie: Because nice things make you a nice person and if you are nice, people will like you. But if you are a bad person people won’t like you and stuff.
Me: So you should do the right thing so people like you?
Charlie: Yes, and not just that, but also so you can be kind.
Me: But why should you be kind? So people will like you?
Charlie: No, not just that. So you can be a good person, so people appreciate you. And sometimes you just wanna be nice since people are being nice to you. Next question.
Me: How do you know you aren’t dreaming right now?
Charlie: Sometimes you can’t know, since dreams can be very realistic. Sometimes dreams can be like of a seal floating in the ocean that you have as a pet and then the seal magically turns into a turtle. That’s how you know it’s a fake. Because a seal can’t turn into a turtle. But if they are like the same, like you are walking with your parents on a walk and you see a chipmunk, then you can’t really tell whether it’s a dream or real life unless you pinch yourself. Cause when you pinch yourself that would wake you up.
Me: How do you know that anyone is a real person aside from you? How do you know that other people have minds?
Charlie: Well, if they didn’t have minds, they wouldn’t be able to talk, think…
Me: But how do you know we really think?
Charlie: Cause you talk. And you need to think about the words before you talk.
Me: But how do you know we’re not like robots?
Charlie: Because robots talk like this: “I am a robot” [robot voice]. And they move their arms like this [robotic arm motions]. And they are made of metal. You could put skin paint over them but it would wash off. I’m done with these questions.