The intellectual dies the moment he loses that characteristic curiosity of the young student, thirsty to learn. Intellectual activity itself is based on nothing else: it requires permanent effort, enthusiasm for the unknown and the will to investigate and understand it. That’s why, no matter what happens to them, the intellectual must never allow this flame to go out, otherwise he will go out with it.
Tag: philosophy
There Are Age Groups in Which the Accumulation…
It is curious to note that there are age groups in which the accumulation of experience very often leads to similar decisive movements. Adulthood is preceded by a decision that corroborates or definitively breaks with the aspirations of adolescence; middle age reinforces this decision or, in cases where it has been postponed, violently oppresses due to the cowardice of postponement; old age arrives with the unique possibility of synthesis or, at the very least, with the last possibility of affirmation along untrodden paths. And it is repeatedly noted that these frameworks, supported by similar classes of experience, produce results that are also similar in content, although individualized depending on the routes taken. The age factor is therefore fundamental and extremely instructive in analyzing man.
Every Profession Requires Something Beyond…
From a certain point on, every profession requires something beyond mere convenience in order to be carried out properly. This is usually the case when novelty disappears from the routine, which becomes the execution of tasks already carried out the day before. Then, if there is no motivator beyond what one gets out of doing them, if one does not derive some satisfaction from the daily exercise itself, the job becomes unbearable, the exercise becomes tedious, distressing, torturous. So it seems that the dissatisfied person has to choose between two things: abandon it or succumb to it. Therefore, it is not possible to give other advice than that a profession should be chosen above all with a view to the satisfaction that can be derived from it: in the end, everything else that can be obtained from it will be linked to the existence of this possibility, or not.
Any Philosophy That Focuses on Individuality…
Any philosophy that focuses on individuality risks being distorted by the masses. A philosophy that, like Nietzsche’s, encourages the individual to assert himself, making his own will a reality over the course of a lifetime, demands an individualized reader and vehemently rejects generalization. Such a philosophy presupposes awareness of one’s own uniqueness and the existence of a fundamental, non-transferable motivation, without which the act is unjustified and with which almost anything can be done. This cannot be demanded of the average person…