A Student's Comment on Philosophy

Today in history class I mentioned two philosophers - Karl Marx and Fredric Engels. The question from students, of course, was "what is a philosopher?"

"A philosopher is someone who thinks, specifically about what is really real (among other things)," I answered.

Most students didn't quite understand that explanation, so I gave them a "philosophical" question.

"How do you know that all of this - the classroom, me, your classmates - is real? How do you know its not just a figment of your imagination?"

Most of them answered, "Because we know! I can see it!"

"But how do you KNOW for sure!" I said.

Answers one student: "Because if this were really a figment of my imagination, there would be dragons and everyone would have swords."

You can't argue with that.