How a philosophy club opens doors to deeper thinking and learning

Philosophy Isn’t Fantasy

The classroom was already full.

Leaning against a table at the front, Mr. Sun Zhong- yao began as he often did—posing a question that touched on life’s everyday struggles. From there, he invited his students to unravel it, raising new questions, testing familiar assumptions, and guiding them to think beyond their own boundaries.

Midway through, the door opened. Another student slipped in quietly and joined the discussion. No one seemed surprised. In Mr. Sun’s class, it was common for students to audit, and even a late arrival couldn’t break the current of inquiry flowing between teacher and students.

“Does time really exist?”

“Are we living in a giant’s dream?”

“Do we truly understand the saying, ‘Heaven will bestow great responsibilities on those who are capable of them’?”

“From an evolutionary perspective, how do you explain the human need for a ‘gene that loves repetition’?”

From abstract musings to arguments rooted in sci- ence, Mr. Sun led students through ideas they had never encountered before.

Looking into their curious eyes, Mr. Sun sometimes felt transported back to his own high school days, when he first wrestled with questions like “What is the meaning of life?” or “Why do we exist?”

His teacher’s answer was blunt: “Don’t ponder questions you can’t understand.”

But unanswered questions never disappear. Mr. Sun kept asking. That was when his own philosophi- cal journey began.

Years later, after earning a PhD in physics from the University of Pennsylvania and receiving a Penn State fellowship, Mr. Sun became a teacher. Physics gave him insight into the dimensions of existence— space and time—but philosophy gave him the tools to reshape his thinking. For him, it is less about arriving at answers and more about broadening horizons, igniting new questions, and nurturing reflection.

In 2022, he brought that same spirit to Keystone by founding a KAP called The Theory of Everything. It would not be about memorizing difficult philosoph- ical texts but about starting from everyday struggles, social phenomena, and global challenges. Students would learn to raise questions, question assumptions, and search for new ways to understand themselves and the world.

“Philosophy emerges from life,” Mr. Sun tells his students. Each person can forge their own path of inquiry when guided by reflection, conversation, and lived experience. And for him, philosophy has never been confined to books.

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Mr. Sun often recalls his experience as a long-dis- tance runner: “Around the second kilometer, the pain feels unbearable, like you can’t keep going. But once you get through it, you feel completely free.” Running, he explains, teaches perseverance and the strength that comes from pushing through discomfort.

It is the same with challenges in school. Students often feel crushed by exam stress or failures that seem overwhelming at the time. Mr. Sun reminds them that life’s obstacles resemble steep mountains: “They seem intimidating as you climb. But once you look back, those difficulties are just small bumps.”

Adolescence itself is full of confusion and the ache of feeling misunderstood. In his KAP sessions, Mr. Sun encourages students to reflect on these challenges through a philosophical lens. Thinking about life in this way, he says, expands beyond the self to society, to the world, and to our relationship with time and space.

Philosophy, he tells them, is not fantasy; it is the foundation from which other disciplines once grew. “It’s not an exaggeration to say philosophy is the mother of science,” Mr. Sun says.

In his view, philosophy covers four dimensions: metaphysics, physics, psychology, and sociology. In the Theory of Everything KAP, students encounter all four. Mr. Sun helps them apply scientific theories to human behavior, explore social dynamics, and under- stand themselves and others more deeply.

Take repetition, for instance. To many, daily routines seem as meaningless as Sisyphus pushing his boulder uphill. But Mr. Sun urges students to consider evolu- tion: the gene for repetition ensures survival and sta- bility. At the same time, every person carries the gene for heroism and for resistance—the “troublemakers” who prevent stagnation and spark change.

When students doubt themselves or struggle with negative emotions, Mr. Sun’s class helps them return to rational reflection—or view their situation from another angle.

“When Heaven is about to confer a great responsi- bility on someone, it first tests their mind and will,” Mr. Sun quoted Mencius as he offered a fresh interpreta- tion through Stoic philosophy: every setback can con- tain opportunity. “We don’t need to judge experiences as good or bad. What matters is what we learn and how we grow,” he says.

Meet on Thursdays

In the Theory of Everything KAP, Mr. Sun poses questions that spark reflection, invites students to share their views, then guides them. The conversa- tions are not structured as classroom lectures but a discussion brimming with expanding, pulling back, and moving forward together.

Now in its fourth year, the club fills up as soon as registration opens. Those who can’t enroll often come as auditors, drawn to an enigmatic atmosphere that unfolds every Thursday. Students step outside their “worlds” and gather in what has become an invigor- ating huddle.

For Mr. Sun, students are his equals with valuable ideas. He listens closely and respects their individual ity. Students, in turn, open up and talk about science fiction, philosophy, artificial intelligence, books they’ve read, or even a popular video channel. In this free and relaxed space, they speak without fear of mistakes and discover their authentic voices.

Participants come from different backgrounds— science enthusiasts, budding artists, even a student who wrote a 20,000-word novel. “The common trait,” Mr. Sun says, “is their love of thinking and asking ques- tions.”

Eleventh grader Fan Zixuan, who has been part of the club for two years, recalls how one classmate’s constant questioning shifted her perspective: “At first I thought he was too serious. But later I realized that only by asking questions constantly can you understand something more deeply. Through his questions, I also gained new insights.” She remembers Mr. Sun saying, “People cannot know what is beyond their own cogni- tion.” That idea left a deep impression: “In the club, our thoughts expanded into vast and unfamiliar places.”

In a session that focused on mortality, Zixuan asked whether the fear of death stems from fear of the unknown. Others argued it is because death takes away a life still to be lived; some saw it as simply the end of suffering. Mr. Sun reminded them: because death is unknowable, we should cherish the present more.

Philosophy to Nurture Thinking Citizens

Keystone alumna Xing Zhitong ’25 found in this KAP the learning style she had been searching for. “It felt like Socrates with his friends, except more relaxed. We sat together, deconstructing a small part of the world. Sometimes it was monkeys, sometimes nihilism, some- times time itself. These conversations will stay with me for a long time.” Now accepted at Minerva University, she will continue her journey of inquiry in another inno- vative learning environment.

The approach echoes a French view of philosophy in civic education, described by Sanlian Life Weekly as cultivating citoyens éclairés—enlightened citizens able to reflect, critique, and participate in times of crisis. The “Theory of Everything” KAP is Keystone’s attempt at something similar: using philosophy as a way to nur- ture thinking citizens.

Beyond this program, Mr. Sun also teaches math- ematics and Theory of Knowledge (TOK), helping students reflect critically on knowledge itself and dis- mantle the boundaries between disciplines. His goal: to inspire them to question, analyze, and form inde- pendent opinions.

There is another motivation for the Theory of Everything KAP. Many online platforms misinterpret philosophical ideas—turning Descartes’s “I think, therefore I am” into empty inspiration, or Lao Tzu’s wuwei into “do nothing.” In class, Mr. Sun helps stu- dents see the underlying meanings: that Descartes was grappling with the uncertainty of knowledge, and that wúwei invites people to follow their ideas and strive boldly, even in the face of meaninglessness.

He often tells students: “No matter what the out- come, keep trying. Even if you fail, only in this way can humanity continue to progress.”

In the film, Dead Poets Society, the protagonist John Keating urged his students to stand on their desks and see the world differently. He inspired them to pur- sue their own voices and live authentically.

In his own way, Mr. Sun does the same through his KAP. He invites students to break free from men- tal constraints, to question, to explore, and to expand their view of the world.

As Mr. Keating once told his students—words Mr. Sun hopes his own students will remember:

You must strive to find your own voice, because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it all. Thoreau said, ‘Most people live in quiet despair.’ Don’t get stuck in that situation. Break out.

“Oh, Captain, my Captain.”