Innhonor of the birthdays of two famous philosophers, Soren Kierkegaardnand Karl Marx, today we turn to the study of deep ideas and bignquestions.
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nWhat is truth?
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nWhat is beauty?
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nHow should people liventheir lives?
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nThenstudy of fundamental ideas is called philosophy, which meansn“love of wisdom.”
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Bornnin 1813 in Denmark, SorennKierkegaard is considered the first existentialist philosopher. Thatnis the idea that the starting point of philosophical thinking must benthe individual and his or her experiences. Kierkegaard thought thatnit is the individual person who must give meaning to his or her ownnlife, and that we should all live passionately and sincerely—thatnis, with great spirit, and always being true to oneself.
Bornnin 1813 in Denmark, SorennKierkegaard is considered the first existentialist philosopher. Thatnis the idea that the starting point of philosophical thinking must benthe individual and his or her experiences. Kierkegaard thought thatnit is the individual person who must give meaning to his or her ownnlife, and that we should all live passionately and sincerely—thatnis, with great spirit, and always being true to oneself.n
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Bornnon the same date just five years later, in Prussia (Germany), KarlnMarx is linked with ideas of socialism and communism. He wasnconcerned with the relationship between the people who ownednresources and factories and land and the people who labored in thosenfactories and on that land—in other words, the relationship betweennupper and lower classes. He thought that capitalist societies—thosenthat feature private ownership and in which people create productsnand provide services in order to earn profits—were unstable andnwould break down. He said that they would be replaced by socialistnsocieties that planned production according to people’s real needsnand distributed income according to people’s contributions.nEventually, Marx believed, socialist societies would be replaced byncommunism—a human society without national divisions, without centralngovernments, and without upper and lower classes. (By the way, you probably know that many of the people who haventried to create societies along Marxist lines ended up with some verynmiserable societies—and, viewing history, we might wonder if Marxnwas just too idealistic to develop good philosophical ideas.)
Bornnon the same date just five years later, in Prussia (Germany), KarlnMarx is linked with ideas of socialism and communism. He wasnconcerned with the relationship between the people who ownednresources and factories and land and the people who labored in thosenfactories and on that land—in other words, the relationship betweennupper and lower classes. He thought that capitalist societies—thosenthat feature private ownership and in which people create productsnand provide services in order to earn profits—were unstable andnwould break down. He said that they would be replaced by socialistnsocieties that planned production according to people’s real needsnand distributed income according to people’s contributions.nEventually, Marx believed, socialist societies would be replaced byncommunism—a human society without national divisions, without centralngovernments, and without upper and lower classes. (By the way, you probably know that many of the people who haventried to create societies along Marxist lines ended up with some verynmiserable societies—and, viewing history, we might wonder if Marxnwas just too idealistic to develop good philosophical ideas.)n
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nThinknbig. Think hard. Think deep.
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Atn Philosophy for Children, people have posted “big questions”n asked by various children’s books. n
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nPhilosophy for Kids provides online stories with philosophical questions.
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nThen Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children has a variety ofn questions you can ask yourself, think about, and discuss.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nChildren’s Day in South Korea
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nCinco de Mayo
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