Examined Lives: From Socrates to Nietzsche by James Miller. We cannot and shouldn't emulate these twelve philosophers in this book but we can gain immense wisdom from their works and lives. A'int we all lucky to have that "fast-food" wisdom on a platter from these men? It's hard not to get carried away by the elegance of one's favorite philosopher; but once we subdue that temptation, we can learn from the errors of these twelve men as well.
Socrates: He was so orderly in his way of life that on several occasions when pestilence broke out in Athens, he was the only man to escape infection. He used to say that he mostly enjoyed food which was least in need of condiments, and the drink which made feel the least hankering for some other drink; and that he was nearest to gods when he had the fewer wants.
Plato: It's a law of nature that wisdom and great power go together; they exert a mutual attraction and are forever seeking to be united. I say all this to show you that when we are dead, men will still talk about us and we must have a care for their opinions.
Diogenes: Alexander once came to visit him while Diogenes was asleep and kicked him with the foot and then said, "Get up, I have just conquered your city." Diogenes replied, "Conquering cities is not to be held against kings, but kicking is how donkeys act."
On another occasion, a messenger from Alexander invited Diogenes to come see the king, but philosopher refused, instructing the messenger to tell the king, "That which prevents you from coming to us is that which prevents us from coming to you."
Aristotle: All men by nature desire to know, in everything natural there is something marvelous.
Seneca: I am not wise nor... shall I ever be. Require me not to be equal to the best, but better than the worst. I am satisfied everyday I reduce my vices and reprove my errors.
Listen to me as you would if I were talking to myself. I am admitting to you my inmost thoughts and with you as my guest, I'm taking myself to the task.
Augustine: Go back inside yourself and look; if you do not see yourself as beautiful, then do as the sculptor does with a statue he wants to make beautiful; he chisels away one part, levels off another... Like him, remove what is superfluous, straighten what is crooked, clean up what is dark and make it bright, and never stop sculpting your own statue, until the godlike splendor of virtue shines forth to you... If you see until the godlike splendor of virtue shines forth to you... if you see that this is what you have become, then you have become vision. Be confident in yourself, you have already ascended her and now , and no longer need someone to show you the way. Open your eyes and see.
Montaigne: My actions, would tell more about the fortune about me... it is not my deeds that I write down; it is myself, it is my essence.
Descartes: Lord has made three marvels, something out of nothing; free will; and God in man.
Obey the laws and customs of country one lives in; second, to act according to most the most probable opinion whenever there is lack of time to discern what is true; third, to try to subordinate one's wishes to the world, rather than other way around.
We should pay little attention to all the things outside of us that do not depend on our free will, in comparison with those things that do depend on it, which can always make good, when we know how to use our will properly; by this means, we can prevent the evils that come from elsewhere, however great they may be, form penetrating our soul any more deeply than the sadness that actors arouse when they perform various morbid acts; though to respond in this way, I agree, one must be very philosophical indeed.
Rousseau: Suspicions, offenses, fears, coldness, reserve, hate and betrayal will hide constantly under the uniform and false veil of politeness.
Deep in the forest, I sought and found the image of the first times, the history of which I proudly traced. I made a clean sweep of the petty lies of mankind; I dared to strip naked their nature, to follow the progress of time, and trace the things which distorted it; and by comparing man as he has made himself with natural man I showed him in his pretended perfection the true source of his misery. Exalted by these sublime meditations, my soul raised itself close to divinity, and seeing my fellow men pursuing the blind path of their prejudices, of their errors, of their misfortunes and their crimes, I cried to them in a feeble voice that they could not hear, "Madman who ceaselessly complain of nature, learn that all your evils arise from yourselves!"
Kant: I feel in its entirety a thirst for knowledge, and yearning restlessness to increase it, but also satisfaction in every forward step. There was a time when I thought that this alone could constitute the honor of mankind, and I despised people, who know nothing. Rousseau set me right.
For what the highest degree may be at which mankind may have come to stand, and however great a gulf may remain between the idea of a free society and its execution (in practice), no one can or should try to determine this, just because it is freedom that can go beyond every proposed boundary.
Emerson: A man contains all that is needful to his government within himself. He is made a law unto himself. All real good or evil that can befall him must be from himself. He only can do himself any good or any harm. Nothing can be given to him or taken from him but always there is a compensation. There is a correspondence between the human soul & everything that exists in the world, more properly, everything that is known to man... The purpose of life seems to be to acquaint a man with himself. He is not to live to the future as described to him but to live to the real future by living to the real present. The highest revelation is that God is in every man. I
Nietzsche: Beware, when great God lets loose a thinker on this planet. Then all things are at risk. It is as when a conflagration has broken out in a great city, and no man know what is safe, or where it will end. There is not a piece of science but its flank may be turned tomorrow; there is not any literary reputation, not the so-called eternal names of fame, that may be not be reviewed and condemned; the things which are dear to men at this hour are so account of the idea which have emerged on their mental horizon, and which cause the present order of things, as a tree bears it apples. A new degree of culture would instantly revolutionize the entire system of human pursuits.
In the end, Miller "philosophizes" that may be an examined life is not too prudent... I think, to a certain extent there is a truth to it. But yet, an unexamined life is not worth living at all. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle; we can all dwell on that self imposed immaturity and become parrots of other men's thoughts or we can find the right balance between self-relfection and living a pragmatic good life. The choice is ours. Philosophy is one of the necessary ingredients for that life on the margin - abhor it at our own peril.
And of-course philosophy can be used for self-imposed misinterpretation; seamlessly transforming Emerson's self-reliance to a mythical city of Lake Wobohen:
It was an irony, perhaps unavoidable, that by exemplifying in this manner "Man Thinking", Emerson risked turning his idea of self-reliance into a kind of common coin, inspiring the cultivation en masse of superficially self-reliant souls, made complacent by pseudotranscendentalist slogans ("Be all that you can be") - a characteristic feature of America's popular culture to this day. His lectures, he acknowledged, risked turning into a "puppet show of Eleusinian Mysteries."
Socrates: He was so orderly in his way of life that on several occasions when pestilence broke out in Athens, he was the only man to escape infection. He used to say that he mostly enjoyed food which was least in need of condiments, and the drink which made feel the least hankering for some other drink; and that he was nearest to gods when he had the fewer wants.
Plato: It's a law of nature that wisdom and great power go together; they exert a mutual attraction and are forever seeking to be united. I say all this to show you that when we are dead, men will still talk about us and we must have a care for their opinions.
Diogenes: Alexander once came to visit him while Diogenes was asleep and kicked him with the foot and then said, "Get up, I have just conquered your city." Diogenes replied, "Conquering cities is not to be held against kings, but kicking is how donkeys act."
On another occasion, a messenger from Alexander invited Diogenes to come see the king, but philosopher refused, instructing the messenger to tell the king, "That which prevents you from coming to us is that which prevents us from coming to you."
Aristotle: All men by nature desire to know, in everything natural there is something marvelous.
Seneca: I am not wise nor... shall I ever be. Require me not to be equal to the best, but better than the worst. I am satisfied everyday I reduce my vices and reprove my errors.
Listen to me as you would if I were talking to myself. I am admitting to you my inmost thoughts and with you as my guest, I'm taking myself to the task.
Augustine: Go back inside yourself and look; if you do not see yourself as beautiful, then do as the sculptor does with a statue he wants to make beautiful; he chisels away one part, levels off another... Like him, remove what is superfluous, straighten what is crooked, clean up what is dark and make it bright, and never stop sculpting your own statue, until the godlike splendor of virtue shines forth to you... If you see until the godlike splendor of virtue shines forth to you... if you see that this is what you have become, then you have become vision. Be confident in yourself, you have already ascended her and now , and no longer need someone to show you the way. Open your eyes and see.
Montaigne: My actions, would tell more about the fortune about me... it is not my deeds that I write down; it is myself, it is my essence.
Descartes: Lord has made three marvels, something out of nothing; free will; and God in man.
Obey the laws and customs of country one lives in; second, to act according to most the most probable opinion whenever there is lack of time to discern what is true; third, to try to subordinate one's wishes to the world, rather than other way around.
We should pay little attention to all the things outside of us that do not depend on our free will, in comparison with those things that do depend on it, which can always make good, when we know how to use our will properly; by this means, we can prevent the evils that come from elsewhere, however great they may be, form penetrating our soul any more deeply than the sadness that actors arouse when they perform various morbid acts; though to respond in this way, I agree, one must be very philosophical indeed.
Rousseau: Suspicions, offenses, fears, coldness, reserve, hate and betrayal will hide constantly under the uniform and false veil of politeness.
Deep in the forest, I sought and found the image of the first times, the history of which I proudly traced. I made a clean sweep of the petty lies of mankind; I dared to strip naked their nature, to follow the progress of time, and trace the things which distorted it; and by comparing man as he has made himself with natural man I showed him in his pretended perfection the true source of his misery. Exalted by these sublime meditations, my soul raised itself close to divinity, and seeing my fellow men pursuing the blind path of their prejudices, of their errors, of their misfortunes and their crimes, I cried to them in a feeble voice that they could not hear, "Madman who ceaselessly complain of nature, learn that all your evils arise from yourselves!"
Kant: I feel in its entirety a thirst for knowledge, and yearning restlessness to increase it, but also satisfaction in every forward step. There was a time when I thought that this alone could constitute the honor of mankind, and I despised people, who know nothing. Rousseau set me right.
For what the highest degree may be at which mankind may have come to stand, and however great a gulf may remain between the idea of a free society and its execution (in practice), no one can or should try to determine this, just because it is freedom that can go beyond every proposed boundary.
Emerson: A man contains all that is needful to his government within himself. He is made a law unto himself. All real good or evil that can befall him must be from himself. He only can do himself any good or any harm. Nothing can be given to him or taken from him but always there is a compensation. There is a correspondence between the human soul & everything that exists in the world, more properly, everything that is known to man... The purpose of life seems to be to acquaint a man with himself. He is not to live to the future as described to him but to live to the real future by living to the real present. The highest revelation is that God is in every man. I
Nietzsche: Beware, when great God lets loose a thinker on this planet. Then all things are at risk. It is as when a conflagration has broken out in a great city, and no man know what is safe, or where it will end. There is not a piece of science but its flank may be turned tomorrow; there is not any literary reputation, not the so-called eternal names of fame, that may be not be reviewed and condemned; the things which are dear to men at this hour are so account of the idea which have emerged on their mental horizon, and which cause the present order of things, as a tree bears it apples. A new degree of culture would instantly revolutionize the entire system of human pursuits.
In the end, Miller "philosophizes" that may be an examined life is not too prudent... I think, to a certain extent there is a truth to it. But yet, an unexamined life is not worth living at all. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle; we can all dwell on that self imposed immaturity and become parrots of other men's thoughts or we can find the right balance between self-relfection and living a pragmatic good life. The choice is ours. Philosophy is one of the necessary ingredients for that life on the margin - abhor it at our own peril.
And of-course philosophy can be used for self-imposed misinterpretation; seamlessly transforming Emerson's self-reliance to a mythical city of Lake Wobohen:
It was an irony, perhaps unavoidable, that by exemplifying in this manner "Man Thinking", Emerson risked turning his idea of self-reliance into a kind of common coin, inspiring the cultivation en masse of superficially self-reliant souls, made complacent by pseudotranscendentalist slogans ("Be all that you can be") - a characteristic feature of America's popular culture to this day. His lectures, he acknowledged, risked turning into a "puppet show of Eleusinian Mysteries."
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