Chapter 2 【sequence】

"Youth Philosophy Guide" is a bouquet of wisdom flowers that we present to young friends. Philosophy is the highest flower on the tree of human wisdom.Many of its principles are put forward by summarizing and generalizing the achievements of natural science and social science.Its principles are much more abstract than those of natural science and social science, and belong to a higher realm of thought suspended in the air.Therefore, many people think it is unfathomable, even mysterious, and think that young friends cannot learn philosophy at all.This is actually a kind of misunderstanding.Some of its theories and methods are indeed esoteric, but they are by no means unfathomable, let alone mysterious.

From the day it came into being, philosophy has been shouldering the mission of liberating people's thoughts from the shackles of religious myths.In ancient Greece, Thales, the earliest philosopher, put forward the idea that water is the origin of all things. It marks that the Greeks have begun to abandon the way of thinking of religious myths and switch to thinking about the world in a philosophical way.In China, the emergence of the ancient theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements also played the same role.The object of philosophical research is not the illusory heaven described by religion, but the real world in which we live, and its content is a true reflection of the real world.All phenomena in the real world have laws to follow, and there is no mystery at all. Therefore, there will be no mysterious content in philosophy.In fact, teenagers will encounter phenomena that require philosophical thinking in life and study.Philosophy is not in heaven, but in the side of young friends.

We have answered the question of whether young friends can learn philosophy from the perspective of learning objects.That's only half of the question answered.To make the answer complete, we must also answer the other half of the question, which is whether young friends have the ability to study philosophy.Now we would like to ask the contemporary American philosopher Matthews to answer this question.He wrote a book called "Philosophy and Childhood", a famous writer in our country. Mr. Qian Zhongshu, the author of Fortress Besieged, recommended it to Sanlian Bookstore, which has published a Chinese version.This book cites a large number of examples to prove that young children are born with the ability to think philosophically.This ability is first manifested in young children asking many philosophical questions.Matthews sees these questions as an invitation to philosophize.This ability is also manifested in young children making philosophical comments.What young children can do is of course even easier for young friends.With the development of society and the progress of science and technology, the life experience and scientific knowledge of young friends are constantly enriched.Today's young friends are not what they used to be. They all hold invitations for philosophical thinking and will ask more and more philosophical questions. As their ability to use concepts, judgments and reasoning grows, they will also make More and better philosophical commentary.Therefore, for young friends, it is not a question of whether they have the ability to think philosophically, but a question of whether they should be enlightened and developed.

The answer to whether to enlighten and develop the philosophical thinking ability of young friends should be yes.The reason is simple, because it is too important for people.We hope that great philosophers like Marx and Mao Zedong will appear among the young friends, but this is not our main purpose of helping young friends develop their ability to think philosophically, let alone the only purpose.Our purpose is to make young friends live better, learn better and work better in the future.Philosophy can cultivate the sentiments of young friends and make them rich and noble in spirit.It can help young friends to grasp the steering wheel of the ship of life, no matter what kind of wind and waves they encounter, they can reach their destination safely.Young friends who have mastered the philosophical thinking method will be even more powerful, achieve twice the result with half the effort in study, life and future work, and make outstanding contributions to mankind.

It is a pity that our parents, teachers, and even the whole society only pay attention to instilling knowledge and neglect to enlighten and develop their philosophical thinking ability in the education of young people, making many young people become memory machines instead of lively creators .Undoubtedly, one should acquire more knowledge during one's youth, but one should not turn them into dead things and stuff them into the minds of young friends, but should make them living things, and let young friends activate their minds to actively master them.While imparting knowledge, we should also impart ways of thinking.We should not only educate young friends, but also make young friends intelligent.Learning philosophy is the most reliable way to exercise thinking and enlighten wisdom.

Philosophy is a big world.Here, there are not only the exploration of natural laws, the search for social mysteries, but also the teasing of the veil of thought; there are both true revelations, good enlightenment, and the pursuit of beauty; The wisdom of Chinese philosophers sparks all aspects of this big world, and we cannot show them one by one.We strive to dedicate the essence of it to everyone. Wisdom is the most precious thing for man.May all young friends become people who love and possess wisdom.