# What philosophical question did you ask as a child? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534 "2012-04-21T20:49:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SDMBKL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdmbkl/32/7297_2.png) [@SDMBKL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDMBKL)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/1 "2012-04-21T20:49:27Z")
Did you ask philosophical questions as a child? What philosophical questions did you ask as a child? To whom did you ask the philosophical questions? How many philosophical questions did you ask totally and per person? Do you like asking philosophical questions? Why or why not? What was your favorite philosophical question that you asked? With whom did you engage in asking philosophical questions and discussions the most? What was your method of approaching a philosophical question? How long did you think in your head about a philosophical question? How did people react to your philosophical questions? Did other people ask you any philosophical questions? What did they ask, and were they satisfied with the answer you gave them? How did you answer the asker’s question? Did you discuss the mathematical principles of natural philosophy and tried to engage in an intensive discussion about infinitesimal calculus with your listener and how it applied to physical nature? Have you ever discussed metaphysics? Are you more interested in the physical world or the metaphysical world? Note: when I use the term “philosophy”, I mean all branches of philosophy (moral philosophy, metaphysical philosophy, natural philosophy, continental philosophy, analytic philosophy, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/2 "2012-04-21T21:16:52Z")
So many questions! Will an anecdote do? My grandmother told me this many times, and ended up writing it into a poem for my 18th birthday. She was trying to drive in Belgium (wrong side for her, she’s English), it was late at night, just the two of us. I was about 3 years old. I think we might’ve been lost. She thought I was asleep in the back of the car, when suddenly she heard: “Granny…?” - “Yes, dear” - “How would anyone know that god exists, if nobody has ever seen him?” Poor Granny, nearly crashed her car. (OK, not strictly philosophical, don’t complain.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/3 "2012-04-21T21:20:15Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > “How would anyone know that god exists, if nobody has ever seen him?” . . . . > > (OK, not strictly philosophical, don’t complain.) Of course it’s “strictly” philosophical. Why on Earth would you think otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![Sampsiceramos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Sampsiceramos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampsiceramos)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/4 "2012-04-21T21:31:21Z")
Verily did I in my wee-est of years query as to why a system of first-order logic cannot be both complete and consistent! That, and I started ruthlessly criticizing the typography of Principia Mathematica sometime before I had been weaned. Even a breastfeeding baby can see that using colons instead of brackets to separate subformulas is ridiculous. **Ridiculous** , I say! ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/5 "2012-04-21T21:32:11Z")
I distinctly remember wondering (and asking) “why am I _me_, and not someone else?” Still not sure I know the answer. But the question doesn’t bug me much anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/6 "2012-04-21T21:36:48Z")
I don’t recall this but my mother told me when I was a wee curly-haired tot, I asked her, “If God made the whole world, who made God?” A wee atheist! Shirley Temple O’Hair. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/7 "2012-04-22T00:05:22Z")
I was maybe 10 or so when I wondered “The ancient Greeks believed in their gods, they were **sure** they were right. So… just being certain your faith is true doesn’t prove anything”. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/8 "2012-04-22T01:07:53Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I distinctly remember wondering (and asking) “why am I _me_, and not someone else?” I remember wondering something similar: “If I had different parents, or was born in a different year, would I still be me?” I guess I would’ve been 8 or so when I first considered that. ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/9 "2012-04-22T01:13:37Z")
This string of questions looks like a study or research or survey of some sort… ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/10 "2012-04-22T01:20:27Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Of course it’s “strictly” philosophical. Why on Earth would you think otherwise? Heh. My SO is a philosopher. The definitions of what constitute philosophy are very strict in our household. Very strict. :eek: ETA: (Like my papa, don’t tell him statistics is maths. Oh oooh.) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/11 "2012-04-22T01:45:50Z")
I was 12 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. I was watching it on TV with my grandmother. Somehow I had confused several bible verses and thought that the world was going to end because god would not allow man to reach the heavens. Or something like that. So when the world didn’t end, I started thinking about things and asked my very catholic Abuela where god came from. She looked like she’d been possessed, I think her head actually spun around a few times. She told me to NEVER question god! So I quit asking questions for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/12 "2012-04-22T02:56:19Z")
I was raised Jewish, and one day in Sunday school, the teacher was talking about monotheism. She said that Abraham was the first person to believe in one God, unlike everyone else at that time. And ever since, Jews have believed in only one God. So I asked her: What if Abraham had been wrong? What if we discover someday that there really are many Gods? Why is believing in one God better than believing in many Gods? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/13 "2012-04-22T03:05:03Z")
> [@living\_in\_hell](#): > > This string of questions looks like a study or research or survey of some sort… I’m beginning to feel like we’re all lab rats for a term paper. I think I’m done responding to these. ---
**Author:** ![SDMBKL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdmbkl/32/7297_2.png) [@SDMBKL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDMBKL)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/14 "2012-04-22T03:14:11Z")
OK… so far there has been five out of eleven replies about believing in a god or God and two of the eleven are about asking one’s own existence, and only one is about something related to logic and typography. The rest is about either nonsense or chit-chat. Anything OTHER than God or gods? ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/15 "2012-04-22T04:07:02Z")
You ask a lot of questions without giving any answers of your own. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/16 "2012-04-22T05:00:02Z")
> [@Sampsiceramos](#): > > Verily did I in my wee-est of years query as to why a system of first-order logic cannot be both complete and consistent! > > That, and I started ruthlessly criticizing the typography of Principia Mathematica sometime before I had been weaned. Even a breastfeeding baby can see that using colons instead of brackets to separate subformulas is ridiculous. **Ridiculous** , I say! Pfffffft. Meantime, _I_ was contemplating the Continuum Hypothesis in nursery school. In the realm of theology, I often wondered as a young boy, “If atheists couldn’t talk about atheism, could they talk about anything else at all?” ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/17 "2012-04-22T05:02:55Z")
I kept asking about the end of universe. Reading about the Big Crunch _scared the shit out of me_ as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/18 "2012-04-22T05:16:33Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I distinctly remember wondering (and asking) “why am I _me_, and not someone else?” > > Still not sure I know the answer. But the question doesn’t bug me much anymore. Yeah, same here. When I was in 6th-7th grade, I would stare into the mirror and totally weird myself out thinking about stuff like this. Now I only do that after quite a few sodey pops. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/19 "2012-04-22T14:06:15Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > I kept asking about the end of universe. Oh! So did I, but in a different way: I asked my father where the universe ended, and what was there. I pictured a big brick wall with “END OF UNIVERSE” painted on it. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534/20 "2012-04-22T14:40:33Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Oh! So did I, but in a different way: I asked my father where the universe ended, and what was there. I pictured a big brick wall with “END OF UNIVERSE” painted on it. Same! My father is a physicist and an aerospace engineer and used to tell me about theories of the expanding universe (or if it might be contracting, or if it will expand and then eventually contract etc). I remember that giving me the image of the universe a huge multi-coloured sponge, expanding and contracting as if breathing, in a vast black nothingness. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-philosophical-question-did-you-ask-as-a-child/619534.md?page=2)