To me, that little incident kind of sums up we, um, philosophy giants. Articulate, rational, clueless. — Hippyhead

Yes, the right brain should be in charge, aided by the left brain not controlled and run by it. Here's a great read on that....

https://www.amazon.com/Master-His-Emissary-Divided-Western/dp/0300188374

Do you think it would be a good or bad idea to have these classes mandatory for let’s say, elementary school? How could this positively or negatively impact kids? — Albero

I think it would be a great idea. What's funny about this topic is that it is one I have run into in conversations with others on education and what children should learn at a young age. Just the other day, I was at the dinner table with family and I was the only proponent of the 'in favor' camp of making philosophy a mandatory part of grade school, middle school, and high school. The rest of the dinner table was against my position.

Some Reasons why I think it would be a great idea:

1. It would help children deal with the absurdity of the world. Contradictions, pain, suffering, and oddness of life can be eased by some of the material in philosophy for a child. Some people argue that this may confuse people more, especially those with a hyperactive mind, anxiety, depression, etc. While this negative possibility is possible, with proper instruction from teachers, school services--like counseling, tutors, social workers, and, of course, discussion with parents on these topics, in my opinion, a child is better equipped for their lives to come as well as the situations they will be dealing with as a child.

2. Compassion from adults-to-children and children-to-children will likely increase, for the most part. My premise for this statement/reason is when people are introduced to logic and the thought experiments that logically entails, it can make them more compassionate and understanding of why things are in the world, how people may endure what they do, etc. Most philosophy folks know that the mighty concepts of 'probability' and 'could' allow people to conceive that there are possibilities to almost anyone experience almost anything. In other words, it is possible that most people don't experience tragedy in the form of losing parents at a young age, but some people still experience this. About this particular example, when children are not having thought experiments on subjects like this when something happens to them that may involve pain, suffering, and unfortunate events, then they may be more inclined to react in a hostile or unhealthy way. In my opinion, just thinking about how these events could happen to people can increase that person's likelihood of becoming more compassionate and understanding of others.

3. Society will likely have more deep thinkers. Certain works and thinkers in the study of philosophy touch up on things that require a large amount of thought, reflection, and reading to get the most out of them. Unfortunately, since philosophy is not required, many people are not exposed to it. When many people are not exposed to something, likely, they will not take it up on their own. Instead, if philosophy and the subjects it touches upon are required, more people would be exposed. And when more people are exposed to thinking deeper on life and what it entails, there are likely more thinkers on these things.

Anyhow, these are just a couple of reasons and some explanations for the aforementioned reasons for why I think it would be prudent for students to be mandatorily exposed to philosophy in school. However, this is just my 2 cents on the matter. Thanks for making such an interesting discussion thread. I have thought about this topic for many years. Cheers!

I really agree with your last point. Information is incredibly easy to find these days (arguably too easy), but at the same time I find a lot of critical thinking to be at an all time low. People are quick to gnaw and scratch at each other’s throats much too quickly, there is a lot less civil discussion. I think it’s critical that kids are exposed to this; we do need more people asking why

Thank you. You couldn't have put it any better here:

Information is incredibly easy to find these days (arguably too easy), but at the same time I find a lot of critical thinking to be at an all time low. — Albero