The Making of a Philosopher

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered, "Why are we here?" or "What is real?" If you have, you are already thinking like a philosopher. The Making of a Philosopher is a wonderful book by a man named Colin McGinn. It is an autobiography, which means it is the story of his life. But it is much more than that. It is also a story about the biggest and deepest ideas in the world. In the book, McGinn writes about how he grew up and became a philosopher. Along the way, he teaches the reader exactly what philosophy is. When Colin McGinn was young, he did not plan to be a great thinker. He grew up in England in a regular family. He liked playing the drums and listening to rock music. He was not a star student in school. But one day, he started reading books about psychology, which is the study of the brain. Soon after, he discovered philosophy. The word philosophy comes from an old Greek word that means "love of wisdom." McGinn read about a famous thinker named René Descartes. Descartes once said, "I think, therefore I am." This means the only thing you can be completely sure of is your own mind. You might be dreaming right now, but the fact that you are thinking proves you exist. This idea amazed young McGinn. It changed his life and made him want to ask big questions. In his book, McGinn takes the reader by the hand. He shows us that philosophy is not just for old men with long white beards. It is for anyone who is curious. Science can tell us how things work, like how plants grow or how gravity pulls things down. But philosophy asks why things matter. McGinn became very interested in something called the "mind-body problem." Think about it this way: your brain is made of physical stuff. It is a wet, gray muscle inside your head. But your thoughts, feelings, and dreams are not physical. You cannot weigh a dream on a scale or hold a happy thought in your hand. So, how does a physical brain create an invisible mind? This puzzle became McGinn’s favorite thing to study. As the book goes on, McGinn travels to college at Oxford, a famous school. He meets many smart teachers and introduces the reader to different branches of philosophy. One branch is called logic. Logic is a lot like math, but it uses words instead of numbers. It teaches you how to argue fairly and how to find the truth without making mistakes. He also studied the philosophy of language. He asked questions like, "How do words mean things?" When you say the word "apple," everyone knows what you mean. But how did a simple sound coming from your mouth connect to a red fruit? By sharing stories from his college days, McGinn explains these hard subjects in a very simple way. McGinn also shares his own biggest idea with the reader. After years of studying the mind, he came up with a bold answer to the mind-body problem. His answer is that human beings might never solve it! He believes our brains are just not built to understand how the mind works. Think about a dog. A dog is very smart, but a dog can never understand a math book. Its brain is not made for math. McGinn says human brains might be exactly the same way when it comes to understanding our own minds. There are some mysteries we just cannot solve. This might sound sad, but McGinn finds it beautiful. It means the universe will always be full of wonder. The Making of a Philosopher is a special book. It takes heavy, deep topics and makes them easy to understand. Colin McGinn shows us that you do not need to be a born genius to study philosophy. You just need to have an open mind. You have to be willing to ask "Why?" and look at the world in a new way. By sharing his life story, McGinn invites all of us to join the great conversation of human history.