ideas by using her own common sense—without having to remember everything she
had learned at school. She decided that philosophy was not something you can learn;
but perhaps you can learn to think philosophically.
Democritus
…the most ingenious toy in the world…
Sophie put all the typed pages from the unknown philosopher back into the
cookie tin and put the lid on it. She crawled out of the den and stood for a while
looking across the garden. She thought about what happened yesterday. Her mother
had teased her about the “love letter” again at breakfast this morning. She walked
quickly over to the mailbox to prevent the same thing from happening today. Getting
a love letter two days in a row would be doubly embarrassing.
There was another little white envelope! Sophie began to discern a pattern in the
deliveries: every afternoon she would find a big brown envelope. While she read the
contents, the philosopher would sneak up to the mailbox with another little white
envelope.
So now Sophie would be able to find out who he was. If it was a he! She had a
good view of the mailbox from her room. If she stood at the window she would see
the mysterious philosopher. White envelopes don’t just appear out of thin air!
Sophie decided to keep a careful watch the following day. Tomorrow was
Friday and she would have the whole weekend ahead of her.
She went up to her room and opened the envelope. There was only one question
today, but it was even dumber than the previous three:
Why is Lego the most ingenious toy in the world?
For a start, Sophie was not at all sure she agreed that it was. It was years since
she had played with the little plastic blocks. Moreover she could not for the life of her
see what Lego could possibly have to do with philosophy.
But she was a dutiful student. Rummaging on the top shelf of her closet, she
found a bag full of Lego blocks of all shapes and sizes.
For the first time in ages she began to build with them. As she worked, some
ideas began to occur to her about the blocks.
They are easy to assemble, she thought. Even though they are all different, they
all fit together. They are also unbreakable. She couldn’t ever remember having seen a
broken Lego block. All her blocks looked as bright and new as the day they were
bought, many years ago. The best thing about them was that with Lego she could con-
struct any kind of object. And then she could separate the blocks and construct
something new.
What more could one ask of a toy? Sophie decided that Lego really could be
called the most ingenious toy in the world. But what it had to do with philosophy was
beyond her.
She had nearly finished constructing a big doll’s house. Much as she hated to
admit it, she hadn’t had as much fun in ages.
Why did people quit playing when they grew up?
When her mother got home and saw what Sophie had been doing, she blurted
out, “What fun! I’m so glad you’re not too grown up to play!”
“I’m not playing!” Sophie retorted indignantly, “I’m doing a very complicated
philosophical experiment!”
Her mother signed deeply. She was probably thinking about the white rabbit
and the top hat.