The why of reality

Curious conversations: can a philosopher explain reality and make believe to a child? Songs, books, movies, plays, podcasts... why do we endlessly seek out new stories? This week we're curating articles that explore this cultural and social phenomenon to try and understand it. “Are we real?” Asks Nathanael Stein’s four-year-old son. Here, writing in Aeon Magazine, he looks at the work of some of the great philosophers in order to answer his child’s really easy questions.