The third week of readings involved a lot more heavy lifting (philosophically speaking) than the first 2 weeks. I read some of the most prominent philosophers to this day: Descartes, Locke, and Hume, just to name a few. As a result, the excerpts may be more lengthy and less witty than the ones previously.
“I am, I exist—that is certain. But for how long? Surely for as long as I am thinking. For it could perhaps be the case that, if I were to abandon thinking altogether, then in that moment I would completely cease to be. At this point I am not agreeing to anything except what is necessarily true. Therefore, strictly speaking, I am merely a thinking thing, that is, a mind or spirit, or understanding, or reason—words whose significance I did not realize before. However, I am something real, and I truly exist. But what kind of thing? As I have said, a thing that thinks.”
– Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy
I don’t subscribe to most of Descartes philosophical system. However, ‘cogito, ergo sum,‘ or ‘I think, therefore I am,’ is probably the only thing I will every assert to be undeniably true. Though somewhat of a tautology, it is a necessary starting point for any philosophical journey.
“If a man abounds in the fruits of the Spirit: charity, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, chastity, against which, as Paul says (Gal. v. 22), there is no law, such an one, whether he be taught by reason only or by the Scripture only, has been in very truth taught by God, and is altogether blessed.”
– Spinoza, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus
I feel quite confident I would get along well with Spinoza. His blend of rationalism with spirituality is refreshing to behold.
“Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself. The labor of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labor with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property.”
– Locke, Second Treatise of Government
This passage is the foundation of Locke’s views on property rights. I believe Locke’s view that every person owns their own body and the fruits it produces coincides neatly with the concept of bodily integrity. This is the highest value I believe a society should seek to preserve.
“I think it past doubt, that there are no practical principles wherein all men agree, and therefore none innate”
– Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding
I’m reminded of a qutote by Einstein: “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.” Anytime someone appeals to ‘common sense’ I inwardly roll my eyes. It is a conversational dead-end.
“The most perfect philosophy of the natural kind only staves off our ignorance a little longer: as perhaps the most perfect philosophy of the moral or metaphysical kind serves only to discover larger portions of it. Thus the observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy, and meets us at every turn, in spite of our endeavors to elude or avoid it.”
– Hume, Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Hume is my favorite philosopher to read by a mile. His writing exudes a pleasing mixture of clarity and humility. The more you learn, the less you know. This has certainly been the case for me.
“In all magistracies, the greatness of the power must be compensated by the brevity of the duration. This most legislators have fixed to a year; a longer space would be dangerous, and a shorter would be contrary to the nature of government.”
– Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws
This is an interesting rule. In general, I’m against term limits. Greater political turnover doesn’t equal better representation. Also, it prevents good politicians from continuing their service. How long to set the length for various terms of office is a separate question, and this seems as good a metric as any for determining them.
“Teach him to live rather than to avoid death: life is not breath, but action, the use of our senses, our mind, our faculties, every part of ourselves which makes us conscious of our being. Life consists less in length of days than in the keen sense of living.”
– Rousseau, Émile, or On Education
A paraphrase of this would be the mantra I tell myself frequently: ‘Don’t aim to survive; aim to thrive!’ As a person who suffers from chronic pain, it is tempting to just focus on surviving the day until I can go to bed, get up, and start the whole process over again. But this isn’t living. Creating and accomplishing monthly challenges is one way I can put a spark in my days.
Namaste.