In the past few years, every time we go back to the bookstore, our group of people who are interested in philosophy always feel an ambiguous pleasure.Seeing that - piles of new books on display under the bright "New Age", (NcwAge), "Alternative Philosophy" (A1ternatiVe Philosophy), we can't help but buy a few copies. Alternative philosophy is displayed in front of our eyes , it was exciting to let us choose, but we also looked forward to more "real" philosophy books in this bookstore. A fact: In a huge bookstore, it is not easy to buy a real philosophy book.

This phenomenon is about to change.We are facing -- a powerful philosophical revival.Perhaps, we are tired of those "alternative things".Some of these books are indeed very interesting, but they are also mixed with too much dross. To put it bluntly, alternative philosophy is nothing more than a kind of philosophical eroticism—maybe we can call it "crash philosophy".When you open the book, you will be introduced into a philosophical wonderland in a blink of an eye, just like erotic movies or pornographic novels "instantly" suck you into the world of lust.However, most "alternative philosophies" have nothing to do with real philosophy at all; similarly, erotic movies do not present sincere love.Both philosophy and love take time to develop and deepen.The pursuit of wisdom and love cannot take shortcuts.

Philosophy arose in the marketplaces of the ancient Greek city-states.Today, philosophy can also arise in kindergartens where young children attend.For several years I have been an advocate of bringing philosophy back to its two earliest roots—the market and the school.I would like to take this opportunity to explain to readers of the Chinese version how I bring philosophy back to human childhood in this book.Another book of mine emphasizes the close relationship between philosophy and the bazaar.These two books are actually sister chapters and complement each other. The protagonist of this novel is a little boy named Hans Thomas.He followed his father on a long journey across Europe and entered the "hometown of philosophy".I would like to express my views on European cultural traditions and history through such a story.my biggest attempt.In a way that young people find interesting, it raises a series of fundamental questions about survival to readers.

During the journey to Athens, Hans Thomachin was given a strange little book by a clever arrangement of chance.That book took him to what happened in AD 1790—a shipwreck.The protagonist of the story is a sailor named Floyd.After the ship sank, he drifted to a deserted island in the Caribbean Sea and lived alone for fifty-two years; what accompanied him through the long years and helped him relieve his loneliness was the deck of playing cards he carried with him.Strange to say, the fifty-three cards turned into fifty-three flesh and blood, alive and kicking dwarfs.These dwarves established a village on the island, surrounding Frod.Except for a dwarf, none of them could explain who they were or where they came from.The only dwarf who knows the mystery is the "clown card" in the playing cards.

In this book, the clown symbolizes the "outsider"-he can see the truth of life that others cannot see.Most importantly, he was able to appreciate that life is an interesting adventure.So, those days on the island.He kept asking his fellow-citizens new questions about life. In the card game of life, each of us is born a clown.However, as we grow older, we gradually become hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades.But that doesn't mean the clown in us is gone.We might as well spread out a deck of playing cards and see if there is a clown hidden under those red hearts or squares? It reminds me of ancient parchment documents.Europeans used this parchment.The original text on it is often scraped off and rewritten with other things.Therefore, when we look through an account book in the Middle Ages and look at the prices of grains and fish at that time, we rub our eyes and take a closer look, and we will notice it.What was originally recorded on those parchments was actually a comedy of ancient Rome.Similarly, our curiosity about the world is deeply hidden in everyone's heart.There, we found a group of guys doing tricks, magic tricks, and making the audience laugh. We also saw many elves, gnomes, fairies, and ghosts. We even followed Alice in Wonderland and had afternoon tea with the Queen. .

Readers must have noticed that the clown in the book is a dwarf.He is the eternal child who will never fully grow up and never lose his curiosity about life.In this regard, he deserves it.Relative to all the great philosophers of all ages.In ancient Greece, Socrates was the clown card in a deck of playing cards of his time (when he was a teenager, he ran to the market in Athens when he had nothing to do, and randomly grabbed someone to ask questions!) Socrates once said: "Athens is the Like a lethargic horse. I'll play the role of the 'gadfly', bite it hard and make it fly and leap." (And what is our "gadfly" doing?)

There is a clown living in each of us.This is also Socrates' view.As a philosopher, Socrates actually has no special "credentials"; he is just - a midwife.Midwives help women give birth to children, and Socrates helps people "give birth" the wisdom of life.The metaphor is old, of course, but this ancient symbol of the midwife has another meaning, which is worth pondering: the child who needs to be delivered is actually the child in each of us. For thousands of years, human beings have always been plagued by a series of big questions, and no ready answers can be found anywhere.As a result, we are forced to face two choices: we can deceive ourselves and pretend that we know everything worth knowing, or we can simply close our eyes, refuse to face the fundamental problems of life, and live happily ever after, free from worries.Humans today are basically divided into these two groups.Either we are arrogant and think we understand human affairs, or we simply admit our ignorance and don't ask about things we think we don't understand.This phenomenon is like dividing a deck of cards into two piles, with the red ones on one side and the black ones on the other.However, every once in a while, the buffoon card would poke its face out of the deck.It is neither hearts and diamonds nor clubs and spades.

In Athens, Socrates was such a buffoon—neither aggressive nor indifferent.He only knows one thing: there are many things in the world that he doesn't understand.This thought tormented him all the time, so he became a philosopher, a person who never gave up exploring the truth of life and constantly asked new questions about life. In my opinion, the greatest function of philosophy is to help us find out the "clown" hidden in our hearts, so that we can build a closer friendship with him.Philosophers must sweep away the layer of dust covering the world, so that we can see and feel the world again with the clear eyes of children.Life was originally a wonderful fairy tale, but when we grow up and become "sophisticated", we strip off its mysterious coat and regard it as a boring "reality".But there is hope for each of us, because we are all descended from the Harlequins.Deep inside of us, there is a child alive and kicking, with one big eye open, full of curiosity about life.Although sometimes we feel small and trivial, we must not forget that there is a small piece of gold hidden under the skin of each of us: once, in this world, we were a clean child with a heart like a mirror ...

Back then, we were drawn into a fairy tale—a fairy tale that was more beautiful than any we had heard as children—but it didn’t take long for us to take everything around us for granted and stop being curious.We don't even notice these days that something magical is happening in our new crib at home.Right there - behind the crib rail - the world is being created. And the world never grows old; we grow old.As long as babies keep being born, as long as new people keep coming into the world, our world will always be fresh, as fresh as it was on the seventh day of creation.The child has just now entered this great fairy tale; with clear, clear eyes, he reproaches us for taking this world as "reality" and drifting further and further away from it.

"Why do angels have wings?...Why do stars blink?...Why do birds fly?...Why do elephants have such long trunks?" "Oh, how did I know! Be good, it's time to close your eyes and go to sleep, otherwise, Mom will be angry!" Oddly enough, the child loses this positive, vibrant sense of the world just as he is learning to speak.So, children need myths and fairy tales.Grown-ups need myths and fairy tales, too, because they help us hold on to childhood experiences and keep them from being lost. I think it's too late to start reading about philosophy at nineteen or twenty.Baby swimming is popular in Europe recently, because parents feel that since swimming is an innate instinct of human beings, this instinct must be taken care of.Curiosity about life is not learned, but an instinct that we have forgotten.

We always like to talk and talk about the "mystery of life".To experience this mystery for ourselves, we must shed our sophistication and allow ourselves to be children again.If you want to be a child, you have to take a step back—maybe, after taking a step back, we will find a wonderful world suddenly appearing in front of us.In that very moment, we witness the creation of the world.Under the bright and clear sky, a brand new world popped up... Yet some people say they find life boring!