Weaving together philosophy, social science and neuroscience research,
personal anecdotes and dialogues, The Philosophy of Childing takes a
radically different approach to the traditional boundaries between
childhood and adulthood to reveal how rather than lapse into adulthood,
we can achieve what the Greeks arete - all-around excellence - when we
look to children and youth as a lodestar for our development.
Childhood is our primary launching pad, a time of life when learning is
more intense than at any other, when we gain the critical knowledge and
skills that can help ensure that we remain adaptable. This book weaves
together the thinking of philosophers from across the ages who make the
unsettling assertion that with the passage of time we are apt to shrink
mentally, emotionally, and cognitively. If we follow what has become an
all-too-common course, we denature our original nature - which brims
with curiosity, empathy, reason, wonder, and a will to experiment and
understand - and we regress, our sense of who we are will become fuzzier
and everyone in our orbit will pay a price.
Mounting evidence shows that we begin our lives with a moral,
intellectual, and creative bang, and in this groundbreaking, heavily
researched and highly engaging volume, Christopher Phillips makes the
provocative case that childhood isn't merely a state of becoming, while
adulthood is one of being, as if we've "arrived" and reached the summit.
His life-changing proposition is that if we embrace the defining
qualities of youth, we're not destined to become frail, dispirited, or
unhinged, we'll grow in a way defined by wonder, curiosity,
imaginativeness, playfulness, and compassion - in essence, unlimited
potential.
