The Ghost of Karl Marx

At its most basic, philosophy is about learning how to think about the world around us. It should come as no surprise, then, that children make excellent philosophers! Naturally inquisitive, pint-size scholars need little prompting before being willing to consider life’s “big questions,” however strange or impractical. Plato & Co. introduces children—and curious grown-ups—to the lives and work of famous philosophers, from Descartes to Socrates, Einstein, Marx, and Wittgenstein. Each book in the series features an engaging—and often funny—story that presents basic tenets of philosophical thought alongside vibrant color illustrations.

In The Ghost of Karl Marx, the philosopher is saddened when the town weavers must sell their cloth cheaply to compete with machines. The farmers too cannot sell their crops and have no money to buy new seeds. Forced to leave their work, the townspeople form an angry crowd in front of the factories, but what is to be done when there are so many hungry people and so few jobs to pay for food to eat? Concealed in one of the weavers’ sheets, the philosopher makes a solemn vow to give this story a happy ending by finding the Market, that infernal magician, and ridding the town of him once and for all.

Plato & Co.’s clear approach and charming illustrations make this series the perfect addition to any little library.

Jean Paul Mongin is a philosopher who lives and works in Paris. He is the publisher of Plato & Co.Anna Street is the translator for Plato and Co. She is a PhD candidate at Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne and at the University of Kent.Yann Le Bras is an illustrator based in Nantes. Ronan de Calan is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne.Donatien Mary is a Paris-based illustrator and printmaker.