Why Grow Up? Chapter 4

 Sidney Martin 

Section 11

Intro to Philosophy 

December 10th, 2023 

                                                                    Why Grow Up?

Chapter 4 of "Why Grow Up" is all about answering the overall question of why people should grow up. Neiman uses views from philosophers like Rousseau and Kant to demonstrate why people should be more inclined to grow up and to answer the question of why people in this time do not want to grow up in the first place. Neiman starts the chapter off with the answer to why people should grow up which is stated as, "...because it's harder than you think, so hard that it can amount to resistance." Neiman starting off with the answer to her own question shows that she already knows how to grow up and is experienced enough to be speaking about it, creating more trust in what she has to say throughout the chapter.

Neiman explains many reasons why people may not want to grow up now in days. One of the reasons that she lists is that there has always been a negative viewpoint around getting older which includes that life becomes worse after childhood, this alone can turn people away from growing up in the search for "freedom." This can add on to the fact of people are normally scared of adulthood because they do not know what will happen, Neiman compares growing up to plateaus, where you may think you are at the top, yet you end up at a halt and this could repeat many times. Neiman also uses the quote "...thinking for yourself is less comfortable than letting someone do it for you." from Kant. This quote proves that many people do not want to grow up simply because they are uncomfortable with thinking for themselves, and this can be seen as immature. These factors combined are Neiman's reasons as to why people are scared of growing up. Neiman also explains that people cannot be forced to grow up and that it must be a choice made by oneself. She says, "...nobody recommends it, for it's just as likely to produce people who are bitter and fearful as the self-determined courageous adults we need." This quote shows that even when people are forced to mature early and be "proper" adults they may not be who we want them to be because of how and why they had to grow up.

Although Neiman gives many reasons as to why people would not want to grow up, she uses philosophers views on growing up to show that it is not a bad thing after all. Neiman uses Plato to show that growing up is not about your life somehow being better or worse, it is about learning that no time is anyone's "best" and to always "savor" what every joy you can get. Neiman saying this encourages the readers to have a brighter look on growing up as a whole. Another way Neiman demonstrated that growing up was not a negative thing was at the end of chapter 4, or the end of the book. She stated that growing up is a "process of permanent revolution" and that people should want to be involved in this. The reason that people would want to partake in this revolution is because it makes people less immature, more courageous, and less distracted.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you feel like people should be forced to grow up?

2. Was the idea of growing up a negative or a positive in your head?