Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Jacob M. Held [0]
Dr. Seuss and Philosophy
Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!
edited by
Jacob M. Held
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, inc.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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Copyright © 2011 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dr. Seuss and philosophy : oh, the thinks you can think! / edited by Jacob M. Held.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-4422-0311-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-0312-9 (electronic)
1. Seuss, Dr.—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Literature—Philosophy. 3. Children’s stories, American—History and criticism. I. Held, Jacob M., 1977– II. Title: Doctor Seuss and philosophy.
PS3513.E2Z65 2011
813'.52—dc22
2011006488
™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Dedicated to those teachers who impressed upon me through their words and deeds that learning is about growing as an individual, and who helped me grow immensely—especially Dr. James B. South and Ken Fought
Preface
When I first started college I was ecstatic. I was finally in a learning environment where I could take a class on anything I could imagine; where I was in control of my educational destiny. So I started looking for courses on topics I hadn’t had before, courses beyond the simple English, history, and various sciences I had been instructed in since I was five. I saw Philosophy 151 and thought I’d try it out. While discussing my future class schedule with my dad, I asked him what philosophy was. He replied, and I paraphrase, “The only people who study philosophy are future philosophy professors.” It wasn’t hard to read between the lines: philosophy was a waste of time. I took it anyway. What I found was eye-opening. I discovered the history of humanity’s collective attempts to understand, contextualize, and discern the meaning of existence, from politics, law, and ethics to God, art, and science. I could not think of anything more profound or important. But at the same time, I noticed no one else was taking these classes. On a campus where an introductory zoology lecture may have upward of two hundred students, my philosophy courses would max out at about fifteen. Philosophy was also the butt of jokes. It was treated as a flaky, irrelevant pastime, not a legitimate area of study. So it did seem as if only those interested in becoming philosophy professors took philosophy courses, and what a shame. It was in those classes that I found an appreciation of and engagement with ideas that have defined and continue to influence our culture and our very existence as a human race. So I decided to become one of those philosophy students who wanted to teach philosophy. But it wasn’t out of necessity; it’s not that all you can do with a degree in philosophy is teach. Philosophy is a love of wisdom, and with wisdom you can do anything, usually better than most, including the most important thing of all, live well. I decided to teach because I had concluded at the end of my first semester at college that I was never going to leave campus. I loved being surrounded by curious, bright people discussing everything under the sun. Regardless of what I had majored in, I would have become a professor of it. Philosophy just struck my