"Papa, water" — A Little Academia

My 7-year-old and 5-year-old children sometimes ask for water by saying, "Papa, water."

Every time I hear this short phrase, I feel happy deep down in my heart.
It is not merely a request.It is their first attempt to carve out the world with wordsandthe beginning of human activityas well.

First, I teach them this.

“There was someone who said 'water' first. A philosopher from Miletus namedThales."
He said, 'Water is the arche (the origin of all things).'
That wasthe first word of Western philosophy.”

A child's natural utterance of 'water, please' is born fromthe same place as Thales's question.
A simple question of 'What is this?'
An awakening of knowledge that asks, 'What lies at the root of existence?'

That is why I believe 'Papa, water' isthe primordial form of philosophy.

“Papa learned Part 1 of the history of Western philosophy at the University of Tokyo fromTakashi YamamotoandHisao Miyamoto.
I could only take the exam once, so I earned my credits with Yamamoto-san.
Naturally, my grade was near perfect, an 'Yu' (the highest rank).

The exam question was 'Discuss the beginning of the beginning of philosophy.'
In this context, the 'beginning of philosophy' refers toAristotle.
The 'beginning of the beginning of philosophy' refers toThales of Miletus, who is mentioned there.”

“By simply shouting 'Water!',Thales was considered the father of all philosophy.
Yamamoto-san used to say, 'He might have just been hungover. You all wouldn't know, though.'
He also read Classical Greek aloud for us.
ἵππος—he explained how charmingly that sound represents the 'sound of a horse running.'

The children just stare blankly.

However, the story doesn't end there. I continue by saying this:

“With your Japanese, 'Papa, water,' thestructure of the sentence is a bit unclear.
Actually, words have something called 'case,' and since you are calling out to 'Papa,' it is the
vocative case, and since 'water' is what you want, it becomes the **accusative case**.”

In other words, 'Papa, water' in Classical Greek would be,

in that form.

At this moment, I conveythe beauty and necessity of Greek case inflections.

“The vocative case is a special case for calling out to someone.
For example, in Plato's books, you see '**Socrates,**' right?
We read it together in the Loeb Library the other day. That is the vocative case.”

In this way, the everyday phrase 'Papa, water'connects from Miletus to Athens, and then to our dining table at home.

I call thisthe beginning of a little Academia.

And my children start to shout with energetic voices.

No, no, please say, "Papa, water, please!"

This is my home, and this is my classroom.