philosophy is a discipline committed to
helping us to live wiser and less
sorrowful lives here are six ideas from
its Western branch that can inspire and
console what need is there to weep over
parts of life the whole of it calls for
tears the Roman philosopher Seneca used
to comfort his friends and himself with
this darkly humorous remark which gets
to the heart of stoicism the school of
philosophy which Seneca helped to found
and which dominated the West for two
hundred years we get weepy and furious
says stoicism not simply because our
plans have failed but because they have
failed and we strongly expected them not
to therefore thought Seneca the task of
philosophy is to disappoint us gently
before life has a chance to do so
violently the less we expect the less we
will suffer through the help of a
consoling pessimism we should strive to
turn our rage and our tears into that
far less volatile compound sadness
Seneca was not trying to depress us just
to spare us the kind of hope that when
it fails inspires bitterness and
intemperate shouting in the late fourth
century as the immense Roman Empire was
collapsing the leading philosopher of
the age st. Augustine became deeply
interested in possible explanations for
the evident tragic disorder of the human
world one central idea he developed was
what he legendarily termed piccata
originally original sin Augustine
proposed that human nature is inherently
damaged and tainted because in the
Garden of Eden the mother of all people
Eve sinned against God by eating an
apple from the tree of knowledge her
guilt was then passed down to her
descendants and now all earthly human
endeavors are bound to fail because they
are the work of a corrupt and faulty
human spirit
this odd idea might not be literally
true of course however as a metaphor for
why the world is in a mess
has a beguiling poetic truth as relevant
to atheists as believers we should not
perhaps expect too much from the human
race
Augustine implies we’ve been somewhat
doomed from the outset and that can in
certain moods be a highly redemptive
thought to keep in mind Kings and
philosophers and so do ladies this
blunt phrase appears in an essay by the
16th century French philosopher Michel
de Montaigne Montaigne wasn’t being mean
his point was kindly he wanted us to
feel closer to and less intimidated by
people whose overt mode of life might
seem painfully impressive and very far
from our own and he could have added in
secret these people also feel inadequate
fear rejection and mess up their sex
lives we could also update his examples
to speak of CEOs entrepreneurs and the
overachieving person we went to college
with more tane was attempting to free us
from under confidence and shyness born
out of an exaggerated sense of the
differences between ourselves and mighty
others at moments of panic maybe before
an important speech or a much
anticipated date we should run Montagnes
phrase through our febrile under
confident minds and remind ourselves
that no one however outwardly poised is
more than a few hours away from a
poignant ly modest and vulnerable moment
all our unhappiness comes from our
inability to sit alone in our room this
assertion by the 17th century French
philosopher Pascal is obviously not
literally true but like all good
philosophical aphorisms it pointedly
exaggerated SAN important idea in order
to bring home a general insight we are
tempted to leave our room and crave
excitements that too often turn out
badly
we meddle in the lives of others but
fail to help them we seek Fame and end
up being misunderstood by large numbers
of people we don’t know sitting alone
doesn’t mean literally being on the bed
but rather staying undistracted with
ourselves appreciating small pleasures
examining the contents of our own minds
allowing the quieter but important parts
of our psyches to emerge thinking before
we act
Pascal’s phrase is poignant because the
louder voices in our culture are
constantly speaking in the opposite
direction
they’re always goading us to get out
more to grow more agitated to seek more
drama and to spend less time in
thoughtful daydreams gazing out for the
window at the clouds passing high above
but we should with Pascal’s
encouragement learn to become better
quieter friends to ourselves subspecies
eternity artists
this means translated from the Latin
under the aspect of eternity a memorable
phrase from the ethics published in 1677
by the Dutch philosopher bajo Spinoza
for Spinoza the task of philosophy is
the teachers to look at things
especially our own suffering and
disappointment under the aspect of
eternity that is as though we were
gazing down at the earth from very far
away or from a different star Spinoza’s
outlook was much indebted to Galileo
from this lofty perspective the
incidents that trouble us no longer have
to seem so shocking or so large what is
a divorce or a sacking when contemplated
from the lunar surface what is a
rejection in love judged against the
Earth’s 4.5 billion year history on
nature means that we’ll always be pulled
to exaggerate the here and now but our
reasoned intelligence
gives us access to a unique alternative
perspective in which we participate in
what Spinoza called eternal totality and
can see sailing against the status quo
submitting to the flow of events with
clear-eyed serenity instead our soaked
women halter alpha house dementia Kim
artists can lease ganske hardest-hit
simmered garden it’s a slightly daunting
and long German phrase but a hugely
arresting and redemptive one central to
the spirit of Western philosophy to
translate out of the Crooked Timber of
humanity no straight thing was ever made
so wrote the German 18th century
philosopher in
Manuel Kant who urged us to recognize
that nothing human beings do can ever be
less than slightly wonky because we are
creatures as much of passion and
erroneous instinct as of reason and
noble intelligence the wise accept this
dark reality head-on and so don’t expect
perfection when designing governments
they don’t presume that rationality will
triumph they do everything to assume
that error and folly will try to have
their way and so create structures to
contain them when they marry with
comparable realism the wise never
expects that one person can be
everything to them and then harangue a
partner when they turn out not to be an
acceptance of our crooked nature isn’t
dispiriting it’s the birth of generosity
and dark good humor not least added
Immanuel Kant crooked beams can make for
beautiful flaws in the hands of a
if you want to learn more about the
thinkers from our videos check out our
great thinkers book available worldwide and now as an e-book
helping us to live wiser and less
sorrowful lives here are six ideas from
its Western branch that can inspire and
console what need is there to weep over
parts of life the whole of it calls for
tears the Roman philosopher Seneca used
to comfort his friends and himself with
this darkly humorous remark which gets
to the heart of stoicism the school of
philosophy which Seneca helped to found
and which dominated the West for two
hundred years we get weepy and furious
says stoicism not simply because our
plans have failed but because they have
failed and we strongly expected them not
to therefore thought Seneca the task of
philosophy is to disappoint us gently
before life has a chance to do so
violently the less we expect the less we
will suffer through the help of a
consoling pessimism we should strive to
turn our rage and our tears into that
far less volatile compound sadness
Seneca was not trying to depress us just
to spare us the kind of hope that when
it fails inspires bitterness and
intemperate shouting in the late fourth
century as the immense Roman Empire was
collapsing the leading philosopher of
the age st. Augustine became deeply
interested in possible explanations for
the evident tragic disorder of the human
world one central idea he developed was
what he legendarily termed piccata
originally original sin Augustine
proposed that human nature is inherently
damaged and tainted because in the
Garden of Eden the mother of all people
Eve sinned against God by eating an
apple from the tree of knowledge her
guilt was then passed down to her
descendants and now all earthly human
endeavors are bound to fail because they
are the work of a corrupt and faulty
human spirit
this odd idea might not be literally
true of course however as a metaphor for
why the world is in a mess
has a beguiling poetic truth as relevant
to atheists as believers we should not
perhaps expect too much from the human
race
Augustine implies we’ve been somewhat
doomed from the outset and that can in
certain moods be a highly redemptive
thought to keep in mind Kings and
philosophers and so do ladies this
blunt phrase appears in an essay by the
16th century French philosopher Michel
de Montaigne Montaigne wasn’t being mean
his point was kindly he wanted us to
feel closer to and less intimidated by
people whose overt mode of life might
seem painfully impressive and very far
from our own and he could have added in
secret these people also feel inadequate
fear rejection and mess up their sex
lives we could also update his examples
to speak of CEOs entrepreneurs and the
overachieving person we went to college
with more tane was attempting to free us
from under confidence and shyness born
out of an exaggerated sense of the
differences between ourselves and mighty
others at moments of panic maybe before
an important speech or a much
anticipated date we should run Montagnes
phrase through our febrile under
confident minds and remind ourselves
that no one however outwardly poised is
more than a few hours away from a
poignant ly modest and vulnerable moment
all our unhappiness comes from our
inability to sit alone in our room this
assertion by the 17th century French
philosopher Pascal is obviously not
literally true but like all good
philosophical aphorisms it pointedly
exaggerated SAN important idea in order
to bring home a general insight we are
tempted to leave our room and crave
excitements that too often turn out
badly
we meddle in the lives of others but
fail to help them we seek Fame and end
up being misunderstood by large numbers
of people we don’t know sitting alone
doesn’t mean literally being on the bed
but rather staying undistracted with
ourselves appreciating small pleasures
examining the contents of our own minds
allowing the quieter but important parts
of our psyches to emerge thinking before
we act
Pascal’s phrase is poignant because the
louder voices in our culture are
constantly speaking in the opposite
direction
they’re always goading us to get out
more to grow more agitated to seek more
drama and to spend less time in
thoughtful daydreams gazing out for the
window at the clouds passing high above
but we should with Pascal’s
encouragement learn to become better
quieter friends to ourselves subspecies
eternity artists
this means translated from the Latin
under the aspect of eternity a memorable
phrase from the ethics published in 1677
by the Dutch philosopher bajo Spinoza
for Spinoza the task of philosophy is
the teachers to look at things
especially our own suffering and
disappointment under the aspect of
eternity that is as though we were
gazing down at the earth from very far
away or from a different star Spinoza’s
outlook was much indebted to Galileo
from this lofty perspective the
incidents that trouble us no longer have
to seem so shocking or so large what is
a divorce or a sacking when contemplated
from the lunar surface what is a
rejection in love judged against the
Earth’s 4.5 billion year history on
nature means that we’ll always be pulled
to exaggerate the here and now but our
reasoned intelligence
gives us access to a unique alternative
perspective in which we participate in
what Spinoza called eternal totality and
can see sailing against the status quo
submitting to the flow of events with
clear-eyed serenity instead our soaked
women halter alpha house dementia Kim
artists can lease ganske hardest-hit
simmered garden it’s a slightly daunting
and long German phrase but a hugely
arresting and redemptive one central to
the spirit of Western philosophy to
translate out of the Crooked Timber of
humanity no straight thing was ever made
so wrote the German 18th century
philosopher in
Manuel Kant who urged us to recognize
that nothing human beings do can ever be
less than slightly wonky because we are
creatures as much of passion and
erroneous instinct as of reason and
noble intelligence the wise accept this
dark reality head-on and so don’t expect
perfection when designing governments
they don’t presume that rationality will
triumph they do everything to assume
that error and folly will try to have
their way and so create structures to
contain them when they marry with
comparable realism the wise never
expects that one person can be
everything to them and then harangue a
partner when they turn out not to be an
acceptance of our crooked nature isn’t
dispiriting it’s the birth of generosity
and dark good humor not least added
Immanuel Kant crooked beams can make for
beautiful flaws in the hands of a
if you want to learn more about the
thinkers from our videos check out our
great thinkers book available worldwide and now as an e-book
Please follow and like us: