The Examined Life

Most young children go through a stage in which they ask, "Why?" No matter what you answer, be it thoughtfully, jokingly, or through clenched teeth, they reply, once more, with "Why?" When our daughter Josephine was in this phase, she encountered another girl who was likewise in it. After going down the "Why?" rabbit whole for several rounds, Josephine finally, in exasperation, said, "Stop asking that question!""Why?" is endless. Even when we attempt to shut things down by finally replying, "That's just the way it is," "Why?" is legitimate. It's among the many questions that philosophers have been asking since before there were philosophers. And at the bottom of it all, we know that the truth, the one that every free person must ultimately confront is, "I don't know." And that leaves us with no choice but to turn it around, What do you think?"I don't know if every teacher must be a philosopher, but as early childhood educators who value inquiry, philosophy is part of the job…