More than 25 years ago I argued in Reasonable Children that children, as children, can acquire qualities of reasonableness. In doing so, I appealed to children's natural philosophical curiosity. Here I offer further support for this still under-acknowledged view by discussing the writings of three celebrated eighteenth-century Scottish philosophers, Thomas Reid, Adam Smith, and David Hume, as well as sermons by Bishop Joseph Butler, the English predecessor they all admired.

More than 65 years ago I read the following words in my 9th grade world history book: TIME DOES NOT MARCH ON. TIME IS. In large print, with all letters capitalized, these two sentences stood alone, surrounded by empty space. This interruption of the standard pages of historical narrative in small print with occasional pictures and special tables was simply passed over in class as we plodded through the seemingly endless text. However, I still remember silently reflecting on what it could possibly mean. Although about history, it is not a statement one would expect to find in a standard history book. Perhaps something like it could be found in a book on philosophy of history.

However, there was no discussion of this unusual statement in my class. This neglect of opportunities for philosophical discussion in pre-college classrooms was standard at the time. (Unfortunately, despite notable exceptions, this is still the case.) Alerted by friends that taking a philosophy course was best delayed until one had taken at least a year's worth of college classes, my formal introduction to philosophy was not until my sophomore year at Alma College (Mich.). I then discovered that I had already been captivated by philosophical questions for some time on my own. This encouraged me for the first time to ignore the large clock on the wall while class was in session. It also led classmate Bob White and me to continue discussing philosophical issues on our way to our next class, Introduction to Economics, which was grounded in the questionable philosophical assumption that human motivation is, in the end, exclusively self-interested. So, these two classes marked the beginning of my long venture into the academic world of philosophy.