"How do I become a philosopher?" (5th Grader, Shizuoka)
The Three Steps
I think being a philosopher just means being someone who "does" philosophy. But what does it mean to "do philosophy"? I like to break it down into three steps.
Step One is to ask a "philosophical question." Simply put, this is a question you can't answer just by searching the internet or collecting data. For example, if you ask, "What is the meaning of human life?" you won't find the answer just by looking it up or running a survey. That's because it's a philosophical question!
Step Two is to think deeply and carefully about that question, and try to come up with your own answer. The answers philosophers come up with aren't always perfect. In fact, a lot of the things philosophers say might have holes in logic or be weak in other ways.
Because of that, Step Three is to share your answer with other people, receive feedback, and improve your answers when it is necessary. You can think about the same question together with them and try to find an even better answer as a community.
I believe that anyone who can follow these three steps well can be a philosopher.
「哲学者にはどうやったらなれますか？」(静岡県、小5）
3つのステップ
哲学者になるということは、哲学をする人になることだと思う。では「哲学をする」とはどういうことだろう？ 私は三つのステップを挙げたい。まず一つ目は「哲学の問い」を持つことだ。「哲学の問い」とは簡単に説明すると「インターネットけんさくあるいは実験や調査をしても答えが出ない問い」だ。例えば「人間が生きる意味はなんなのか」という問いは調査をしても答えが出ない。それはその問いが哲学の問いだからだ。二つ目のステップは、その問いについて深く、ていねいに考えて答えを出してみることだ。哲学者が出す答えは常に正解なわけではない。大体の哲学者の言っていることは論理がきっちりしていなかったり、あやふやな点があったりする。だから三つ目のステップは、自分の答えを他の人と共有し、他の人と共に同じ問いについてさらに考え、よりいい答えを探すことだ。この三つのステップをふんで「てつがくをする」人が、哲学者なんだと思う。
DisclaimersI wrote the original post in Japanese for the Mainichi Children’s Newspaper. Read here for more information on the project.I generated a portion of this English translation using Gemini 3.1 Pro. Although I always read and edit everything I post, I would like to be transparent about the translation process.