Tag: philosophy

If what distinguishes being is the act, and what characterizes the act is the choice, it is necessary to repeat a thousand times that the individual always becomes the choices he makes, and that wisdom comes down to knowing how to choose. The problem is that choice, as a unifying element, is less a decision than a perennial practice, so that without this continuity, it would fall apart and even become null and void. Choosing, therefore, involves deciding and sticking to the decision.

There is no denying that, despite everything that can be said about the conclusions drawn by Hegel, his understanding of the component and guiding processes of reality, in other words his dialectic, is one of impressive lucidity and acuity. Because wherever we turn our eyes, an in-depth examination will show that an effective historical action will necessarily give rise to its antithesis and have a result that is different from its intention. This dynamic, which is sometimes very difficult to understand, remarkably equates the fatal presence of the unpredictable, and forces us to always keep it in mind in any process. Getting used to the ambiguous and the complex is, in short, getting closer to reality.

Solitude in itself is far from evil. What is bad about it is the absence of good company and good examples, which are so often decisive in an education. It is true that, to a certain extent, it takes an inclination to endure it willingly; but even for those who have it, it cannot be underestimated how much they lose by not being able to surround themselves with influences that would naturally, inevitably make them better. In more extreme cases, this absence produces regrettable results.