Janet has a post grappling with the ethical implications of telling children about Santa Claus. SteelyKid is too young for this to be an issue yet, but on this issue, like many others, I turn to my favorite literary philosopher, Terry Pratchett:
"All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little--"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE. ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET-- Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME... SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point--"
MY POINT EXACTLY.
She tried to assemble her thoughts.
THERE IS A PLACE WHERE TWO GALAXIES HAVE BEEN COLLIDING FOR A MILLION YEARS, said Death, apropos of nothing. DON'T TRY TO TELL ME THAT'S RIGHT.
"Yes, but people don't think about that," said Susan. Somewhere there was a bed...
CORRECT. STARS EXPLODE, WORLDS COLLIDE, THERE'S HARDLY ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE HUMANS CAN LIVE WITHOUT BEING FROZEN OR FRIED, AND YET YOU BELIEVE THAT A... A BED IS A NORMAL THING. IT IS A MOST AMAZING TALENT.
"Talent?"
OH, YES. A VERY SPECIAL KIND OF STUPIDITY. YOU THINK THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS INSIDE YOUR HEADS.
"You make us sound mad," said Susan. A nice warm bed...
NO. YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME? said Death.
(From Hogfather, one of my favorite Discworld books.)
It's too clever by half to pass muster as actual philosophy, but it works for me. Happy Hogswatch, everybody.
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
Happy Hogswatch to you and yours as well!
Posted by: Kylinn | December 23, 2009 4:26 PM
Ohmigod, is it Hogswatch already?
Posted by: Jefffrane | December 23, 2009 5:41 PM
If I find myself called to marriage, I'm going to want to teach my kids about Jesus...so I'm really stuck on the Santa thing. It didn't hurt my faith, as far as I know, but if it qualifies as lying it's not something I want to do, for moral reasons and the pragmatic one, that my children might associate Jesus with Santa, which is an association that should only be made via the historical St. Nick...It's a dilemma.
Posted by: Dan Lower / KKairos | December 23, 2009 5:52 PM
For me, this is a tough one. Yes, my kids believe in santa. But I have decided to not actively encourage it - they do that themselves. They have already found some problems with the santa theory, but it seems they choose to ignore these. I am ok with that.
It really doesn't do any harm. I consider it just part of the social norms, that don't really have a purpose (although you could say there is a purpose to the santa-model). Other social norms with no (current) reason:
- neck ties
- shaking right hands
- sending christmas cards in the mail (well, I guess there actually ARE some people out there that don't use the internet)
Posted by: Rhett | December 23, 2009 6:46 PM
Happy Hogswatch Day to you and yours, and most especially the SteelyKid, who needs you and her mother to believe for her in justice, mercy, and fairness until she can believe for herself.
Posted by: Lauren Uroff | December 23, 2009 8:29 PM