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On Talking Philosophy with Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2010

Gareth B. Matthews
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Extract

When our oldest daughter, Sarah, was four years old the family kitten, Fluffy, contracted fleas. There ensued a primitive ritual of flea extermination that touched off the following discussion:

Sarah: ‘Daddy, how did Fluffy get fleas?’

Me: ‘Oh, I suspect she was playing with a cat that already had fleas. The fleas on that cat jumped off on to Fluffy.’

Sarah (after a moment's reflection): ‘And how did that cat get fleas?’

Me (warming to the regress): ‘Oh, probably from another cat.’

Sarah (impatiently now): ‘But, Daddy, it can't go on and on like that forever. The only thing that goes on and on like that forever is numbers.’

Type
Papers
Information
Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements , Volume 10 , March 1976 , pp. 46 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy and the contributors 1975

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References

REFERENCES

Geach, P. T.Mental Acts (1957), London: Routledge.Google Scholar
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Plato, Theaetetus, trans. Cornford, F. M. in Cornford, F. M.Plato's theory of knowledge (1960), London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Watson, J. B.Behaviourism (1925), London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar