–I have been seeing your many kinds of devoted and sincere activities at

Harvard. I was very moved by feeling your high interest to the public people

including students, faculty, journalists from England and Japan, and even

people on the street.

On the other hand, in the BBC film showed in your lecture, I was also moved by

the very extreme and principle based utterance by Peter Singer. I think the

both type of activities, like you and Singer, are very important as one of

philosophers social roles, because people on the street can be aware of the

true principal based idea hidden in the real history and current politics

where they are indirectly committed.

Could you share with us your idea on how young students can inquire their

original philosophy through a range of philosophical thought, especially they

are in the economic depression and public people are not so welcome for the

principal based type of philosophy?

I think that young people can and should develop the habit of thinking for

themselves, of discussing and debating with one another and with their

teachers questions that they care about, especially questions having to do

with politics or the way the world should be or what they consider to be the

ethical way of living in their personal lives.

So I think it’s a very good thing that students, even if they are not

philosophers, begin to think and reason together and argue with one another,

to argue respectfully but to argue seriously about their moral opinions, their

moral convictions, whether to do with their own personal lives or whether to

do with their opinions about policies, political issues.

Because gradually, if they do that, they will begin to reflect on larger

philosophical questions and assumptions and so to begin early, to feel that

they can think and reason for themselves, they may change their opinions as

they grow but at least they will develop the habit and the ability to think

and to reason and to argue with one another, with their teachers in a

respectful way but in a way that will enable them to grow in philosophical

understanding and ultimately that will make them effective citizens because to

be a citizen is to think critically about the assumptions of the everyday

world.

That’s really what philosophy is about.