"Pop songs are usually about variations on the theme of love; tracks like Rose Royce's 1976 hit 'Car Wash' are the exception.Philosophers, likewise, tend to have a narrow focus on epistemology, metaphysics and trifles like the meaning of life. But occasionally great minds stray from their turf and write about other matters, for example buildings (Martin Heidegger), food (Hobbes), tomato juice (Robert Nozick), and the weather (Lucretius and Aristotle)."
"I was wrong. Philosophers have actually written a fair bit about small children. Take for example Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), who was very poetic: "The baby is innocence and forgetfulness, a self-propelling wheel, a first motion, a sacred yes." ( Thus Spoke Zarathustra, p.56). In contrast, Hannah Arendt (1906-1973) wrote rather portentously that we have "come to the point in history where it is little children who are being asked to change the world" ( Reflections on Little Rock, p.496)."
"Like Nietzsche and Arendt, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) didn't have any children of his own, but he probably had more direct experience with infants than either of them. For starters, he spent part of his life as effectively the male nanny of the son of an Earl. He expressed his frustration with the little toddler running wild at the time when he wanted to read Euclid and write his Leviathan."
Pop culture sometimes treats non-romantic topics, exemplified by the Talking Heads album title and Rose Royce's 'Car Wash'. Philosophers often focus on epistemology, metaphysics, and the meaning of life but also address unconventional themes such as buildings (Heidegger), food (Hobbes), tomato juice (Nozick), and the weather (Lucretius and Aristotle). Several major thinkers have written about babies and children, offering perspectives on innocence, historical significance, and behavior. Nietzsche portrays the baby as innocence and a 'sacred yes.' Arendt suggests children are being asked to change the world. Hobbes gained childcare experience as a male nanny and reflected on children's naughtiness while trying to study and write.
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