It's surprising how detailed one can be when describing what is essentially a span of 3000 years, covering the history of something as potentially convoluted and contradictory as philosophy. However I believe that not only have I taken in the odd thing here and there; but I have also been impressed with a sense that there is all this knowledge and wisdom, gleaned from minds insurmountably more intelligent than my own. And I am to take it, build on it, and use it to better myself and my abilities.If that isn't something to get you excited and raring to go, then I dont know what is.
I consider myself to be a voracious reader of books, and while the majority of the material will be new to me, I'm very glad to be taking all these names such as Voltaire, Aristotle and Machiavelli (to list just a few) that I've come across many times in books and seen on television, and actually learning what it was that made them famous people they have become. Or, more to the point the famous philosophies they produced. Give me a moment actually and I'll have a go...
"I think therefore I am" - Descartes. Well that seems obvious to me, but then I'm not really the introspective type. I don't quite see how pointing out something as evident as the fact that I'm here because I'm here, can grant you a place in the annals of history. I can only hope that in learning about the background to this revelation, I can see through the eyes of the people who were actually there at the time. It says something to me that people can be that interested in wondering the why of our existence as opposed to just getting on with it! However, times change, as do cultural views, and they change as a result of people like Descartes. That, if nothing else seems a good reason to give him the benefit of the doubt, which I'm sure he would have appreciated.
OK this is well written and amusing. I am glad you are a voracious reader.
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