I wonder sometimes: what might it be like to be a philosopher parent? What would it be like to have to raise children, knowing that I was raised a certain way and knowing that what I have been taught and what I have learned differ intensely from the way I was raised? In a lot of ways the question I want to ask and answer isn't significantly different from any parent asking, "How should I raise my children?" But what I think differentiates it from "regular parents" is that I question how good or bad it is to hold certain beliefs. And I wonder whether impressing upon a youth a certain set of ideals might do my future children an injustice. What beliefs should I try to let them hold? What beliefs are healthy to have, even if untrue? What is a healthy belief? There are so many questions that enter into the scope here. To steal the question from a recent article I read, "Is it better to have a happy life or a meaningful one?"

Primarily, I think that it is a good thing to hold certain beliefs. Not only because these beliefs may be true, but because there seem to be psychological benefits to holding beliefs in general. I've been told specifically that children who hold beliefs in things that we know to be false (like Santa Clause, for instance) have higher levels of creativity as they develop. I cannot really think of a way to say that less creativity is a good thing, but without knowing what criteria is used to determine "a good amount of creativity," I won't immediately dismiss the idea that maybe children shouldn't believe in Santa Clause. I believed in Santa for a very long time, as have most people I know. We've turned out alright, haven't we? Don't we go to good colleges, make good friendships and engage in intellectual discussion on a daily basis? Of course we do. Holding false beliefs have not hindered us from living good, full lives, because we have been able to throw off these ideas.

Yet, in partial reference to the article I wrote previously (which you can read here), I question the degree to which we can really "unstick" ourselves from what we have been taught is true. Certainly this extends past Santa Clause and into bigger philosophical or religious questions. Is there a God? If there is, certainly it's more important to believe in Him than it is to believe in Santa Clause. But the truth or falsity of His existence is not something that I think can be as easily, if at all, separated from the idea that it might be better to falsely believe in Him than to not.

To explain, there is a philosophical tool called Pascal's Wager, that tries to show (I think effectively) that it is more logical to believe in God than to not because, if there is a God, you should not want to risk your potential eternal damnation by not believing in him. If there isn't a God, then believe what you want to believe, since your beliefs do not necessarily affect your afterlife.

And in terms of having children, and fostering in them beliefs that they may not be able to throw off, is it ethical to let them hold a belief in God that I myself do not believe in, which could potentially risk their eternal lives if they are unable to throw it off? This I think is similar to worries most parents face: you don't want to screw up; you are responsible for the physical, emotional and spiritual growth and development of an entire human being. So I don't believe in God, but I don't believe that that is the world's most compelling reason for me to instill in my children atheism. If they are unable to throw off the ideas that I must, by necessity, place into their heads, I really do feel I have done them an injustice.

An immediate objection one might raise is, "Don't undermine the human spirit and reason so much; no matter what ideas you put into their heads, they can always change them through self-awareness." But I really am skeptical that everyone is truly free and rational enough to throw off ideology to a sufficient degree. I don't doubt that their ideologies can change with time, but what I am most concerned with are our first ideologies, the ones that we seemingly cannot unstick ourselves from.

I could easily raise children that seemingly have no beliefs. No imaginary friends. No God. No Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny. Grounded in the Truth I claim to know, they might grow up to be the most stoic of all peoples. Or I could try and have them hold healthy beliefs. Believe in Santa until you realize it is me filling the stocking after you have fallen fast asleep. But I think I'd not quite put belief in God in this category. Lastly, I could have them hold beliefs that I really do feel are false, but have no substantial way to repudiate: believe in God. Jesus died for your sins. Through virtue, belief and good action, you will achieve life in heaven. Maybe I could try to mix the three, or maybe not. I think I'd personally pick the second option, and keep trying to drive home that my children shouldn't necessarily believe things just because I have told them they are true.

But maybe I'll mess up. Or maybe I'll have some really great kids who are philosophically oriented to trying to discover the truths of the world. But when does orienting someone toward philosophy becoming the most crushing thing in the world? The more you know, the less it feels you know. Constantly having to question everything you know, while fun to an adult, might not be the best thing for a child, right? Generally speaking, haven't most of us grown up in homes where we did not need to question all things in our field of perception? Rather, things just were for us in a way that I don't think they can be for a philosopher parent.

There is no guidebook for this, no People articles written on how people in the public eye are doing it. I can't call up my mother and ask her if she thinks it was good to have me believe in Santa Clause, because I grew up a certain way and I love who I have become. But I cannot just try to replicate my childhood with my children. Rather, I think I have a moral duty to try and make them better people than me. I want to have children whose lives can be happy and have meaning. And I think a lot of this comes down to what beliefs I raise them on. In being a philosopher, I think this is crushing. Because I really don't know what's best for them, even as I claim that certain beliefs are healthy. And that scares me. It scares me a lot.