Sublime

To sum up our contention so far, we may say that the most characteristic current philosophies have not only a touch of mania, but a touch of suicidal mania. The mere questioner has knocked his head against the limits of human thought; and cracked it.

Comment pourrais-je me connaître, sans connaître, au moins partiellement, l’univers qui me contient, l’humanité qui m’engendre, la société dont je suis membre ? Toute philosophie digne de ce nom tend à l’universel : philosopher, c’est penser sa vie, donc le monde, donc le tout. C’est le contraire d’une tour d’ivoire. Se penser soi sans penser le mo

What, then, should those seeking a philosophy of life do? Perhaps their best option is to create for themselves a virtual school of philosophy by reading the works of the philosophers who ran the ancient schools.

The man who thinks for himself, forms his own opinions and learns the authorities for them only later on, when they serve but to strengthen his belief in them and in himself. But the book-philosopher starts from the authorities. He reads other people’s books, collects their opinions, and so forms a whole for himself, which resembles an automaton ma

“When the standards have been set, things are tested and weighed. And the work of philosophy is just this, to examine and uphold the standards, but the work of a truly good person is in using those standards when they know them.” —EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.11.23–25