Yet often they have been incapable of grasping the essence of being a father. By two reliable and easily accessible sources of general philosophy, Daily Nous and Leiter Reports, over 12 of these famous and influential sages – from Plato to Thomas Hobbes to Soren Kierkegaard to John Locke to Friedrich Nietzsche to Baruch Spinoza, amongst many others – were childless, and in turn, denied us their own philosophical oracle on fatherhood. Although contemporary male philosophers are mainly fathers, shockingly, little has been written by them regarding fatherhood and even less has been said by them regarding their own fatherhood. This begs the question, should fathers be philosophers? The short answer to this is in the affirmative – logically, every society and every child necessarily benefits from a father who thinks and seeks understanding.
Here is the rest of the answer: if we accept the idea that philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom through asking fundamental questions about life and ourselves and everything in between these two, in his children a father has an enthusiastic partner in this pursuit. This is because children, especially at a young age, perennially ask fundamental questions. (Even in later life, children do ask questions although less often to their fathers and fathers equally pay less attention to them!) Pondering over these questions and actually seeking answers to them may help a father examine them in a new light and with the benefit of intense reflection, experience and maturity.
