Biography & Philosophy

 

I was born on July 8, 1929 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the time of my birth, my parents were participating as missionaries promoting Christianity in a foreign country. When I was growing up, my family moved a few times. I spent the majority of my childhood in Jackson, Tennessee, and later my adolescence in Franklin, Indiana. I spent a lot of time on my studies as a child; education was always important. I graduated from Franklin High School as the valedictorian of my class in 1947.

I continued my life in Indiana by attending Franklin College--where my father worked as a professor--and received my A.B. in 1951. I furthered my education by receiving my Master of Arts from Harvard University one year later. During my studies with Harvard University I spent the year as a Rotary Fellow at Tubingen and the Free University of Berlin in Germany. The Rotary Foundation that I worked with strives to achieve peace and world understanding through many agendas. The foundation’s activities include educational, humanitarian, and cultural exchange programs. I am very proud of my work here. After my foundation work, I took a break from my studies to serve in the U.S. Navy.

The Cold War caused difficult times for America, and I felt that my country needed me. I thought I could best help from where I was living already. I stayed in Germany and served in intelligence units called The Naval Security Group and the Naval Security Academy. I continued with the military and served in the reserves and ended my career as a Lieutenant.

After my military years, I went back to my alma mater and earned my Ph.D. from Harvard University. Once finishing my education, I decided to teach. I wanted to enrich the minds of students with my philosophies so that they could positively affect the future of our world. I felt that I could make a difference! From 1960-1961, I was an assistant professor at the University of Virginia. I was also an associate professor from 1961-1969 at the University of Minnesota (UM). In addition to my teaching, I held the George Santayana Fellowship in Philosophy at Harvard from 1967-1968. Through this fund, I was able to work on my post-doctoral studies under the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. This turned out to be my calling, and I continued my life at Harvard as a full professor of Philosophy. Aside from lecturing, my job as a professor is to conduct research and publish my findings.

1984: Dialogues with Children

1994: The Philosophy of Childhood

1998: The Philosopher’s Child: Critical Perspectives in the Western Traditions with Susan M. Turner, and The Augustine Tradition

1999: Socratic Perplexity and the Nature of Philosophy

2002: Augustine: On the Trinity

My books "Philosophy and the Young Child," "Dialogues with Children" and "The Philosophy of Childhood" have many translations. Some languages include Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, and numerous European languages. American philosophers are aware of my achievements and the importance of my work, but “[I] have not had the sort of impact on American education that [I] have had on, say, German education” (p. 275). For now, my work has “far more currency in Europe than it does the United States” (p.275).

I have always been fascinated with children because of how they think and see the world. I am particularly interested in how children think and if they can be considered young philosophers. To observe children more closely, I must spend a myriad of time interacting and engaging with children. I begin my research by observing what they read. Some children’s literature is “philosophically rich, complex, and interesting” (p. 274). For instance, Frank Tashlin’s The Bear That Wasn’t includes themes such as “dreaming and skepticism; being and nonbeing; appearance and reality; and the foundations of knowledge” (p. 59). Although the author wrote the story to entertain and engage children, it is a story that I would consider to be a “philosophical whimsy” that has attributes that intrigue children of all ages (p. 59). The book’s style raises questions student philosophers discuss such as ideas in metaphysics and epistemology.

Next, I would listen and be a fly on the wall of children’s conversations. I have researched that children can think on a high, philosophical thinking level as well as some adults. Children’s responses to life’s problems and the ways students think is amazing. In a conversation between my son, John, and his mother, I overheard John wishing he could rewind time to go back and avoid dropping his cello. “Of course, then it would just happen again because there is only one film” John said (p. 32). By saying this statement, John possibly believed that “everything that is going to happen is already recorded”, and history cannot be rewritten  (p. 33). Although John was only seven at this time, his comment was an example of philosophical thinking by a young mind.

Lastly, I engage in conversations with children. The best way to look into kids’ minds is by asking them questions and talking to them. I believe that we disregard children as challenging thinkers because they are young, fresh, and ignorant. Disregarding children is something that we should avoid. From dialogues with my own son, I have discovered that children can “exhibit the sort of intellectual curiosity that characterize the best of philosophers” (p. 274). I remember having a conversation with John about giving meaning to a word or phrase. This idea is what philosophers would call “the ambiguity of ostension” (p. 97). John’s question was, “How do words mean what they mean?” (p. 98). His confusion stemmed from the idea that words cannot have true meaning by describing them with more words. Although this conversation never came to a direct answer or conclusion, it is a great example of how children can think of questions that can be puzzling by some of the world’s greatest minds.

Therefore, I believe that even the youngest minds, children, are capable of abstract thought. Researchers such as Piaget believed that young children were incapable of thinking on a complex level. However, through my research and observations, I have discovered that “some children are drawn to philosophically interesting material” because it has that abstract component (p. 275). This evidence may suggest that children best learn by taking complex topics and breaking them down into simpler ones.