Tag: philosophy

The first thing the student should bear in mind when starting to investigate any subject is: everything that has already been affirmed, has already been refuted; everything that has already been praised, has already been criticized; everything that has already been taken as a rule, has already been violated; and for every example of a given theory, a given current, a given style or a given inclination, it is possible to find a contrary example. This is fundamental for the student to be cautious and never open a book expecting an end point. Good learning is stimulating, it encourages more study and not less, it moves rather than paralyzes.

It is crazy that one has gone so far as to say and admit that philosophy is an occupation for those who like “abstract arguments”. This shows just how corrupting universities are. If nothing else, the etymology of the word should be enough to refute the nonsense. But, in truth, the new definition is far more accurate in portraying the modern wave of philosophers, who are much more fond of argument than of knowing. Academic practice has created this new type, denying outsiders the credentials to exercise the old occupation. It must be hard having to take them seriously in exchange for a monthly payment…

Perhaps the most common element in frustrated biographies of talented men is the inability to stop an undesirable course of events, the inability to go against what is convenient for the sake of one’s own affirmation. In this, they end up wasting themselves. Talent is not accompanied by responsibility for it, and this, if not developed and cultivated, will cause the great possibilities to be dispersed in a great lament.

If it were possible to realize, whenever something is lost, what is necessarily gained by losing it, life would be viewed very differently. Firstly, because possessions weigh down, consume and bind: the sadness of losing them would be compensated by the awareness of liberation. But, above all, because to understand this ambiguity, sometimes veiled but omnipresent, is to situate oneself much better in a reality that simultaneously deprives and enables, while always leaving room for strengthening and affirmation.