Why do you suppose we lie to children? It’s a complex matter, to be sure; for a good essay raising many of the factors, see this by Paul Graham.
I think it is partly to protect them; partly because the truth is too complicated; partly to preserve our own illusions about them and the world; and, of course, partly because we want to mask our own ignorance!
Philosophy just doesn’t make for funny songs. But this one is a good try:
Here is an interesting essay by Raymond Geuss on the philosopher Richard Rorty. It is interesting because of his more general reflections on philosophy, its history, and the choices professors make in teaching it.
An interesting case described here. Man confesses to lawyer that he acted alone in a murder. Man + other man both get life sentences. Man dies. Should lawyer now reveal Man’s confession, in order to get other man out of jail?
Paul Graham is a computer programmer and author and thinker about the world iof the web. He wrote an interesting essay, “How to do Philosophy,” about his own interest in philosophy, philosophy’s history as he sees it, and its possibilities. He has some harsh things to say about a lot of traditional philosophy, but they’re worth mulling over. His proposal for philosophy:
I propose we try again, but that we use that heretofore despised criterion, applicability, as a guide to keep us from wondering off into a swamp of abstractions. Instead of trying to answer the question:
What are the most general truths?
let’s try to answer the question
Of all the useful things we can say, which are the most general?
The test of utility I propose is whether we cause people who read what we’ve written to do anything differently afterward. Knowing we have to give definite (if implicit) advice will keep us from straying beyond the resolution of the words we’re using.
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