Beyond Philosophy

Seneca discusses the difference between having and making friends, comparing it to the difference between creating and curating art. < Latin >. Vide quam sit se contentus: aliquando sui parte contentus est. Si illi manum aut morbus aut hostis exciderit, si quis oculum vel oculos casus excusserit, reliquiae illi suae satisfacient et erit imminuto corpore et amputato tam laetus quam integro fuit (†) ; sed si (‡) quae sibi desunt non desiderat, non deesse mavult. Ita sapiens se contentus est, non ut velit esse sine amico sed ut possit; et hoc quod dico possit tale est: amissum aequo animo fert. Sine amico quidem numquam erit: in sua potestate habet quam cito reparet. Quomodo si perdiderit Phidias statuam protinus alteram faciet, sic hic faciendarum amicitiarum artifex substituet alium in locum amissi. Quaeris quomodo amicum cito facturus sit? Dicam, si illud mihi tecum convenerit, ut statim tibi solvam quod debeo et quantum ad hanc epistulam paria faciamus. Hecaton a...

Marcus offers a meditation on death that reminds me of Qoheleth. < Greek >. Πῶς πάντα ταχέως ἐναφανίζεται, τῷ μὲν κόσμῳ αὐτὰ τὰ σώματα, τῷ δὲ αἰῶνι αἱ μνῆμαι αὐτῶν. οἶά ἐστι τὰ αἰσθητὰ πάντα καὶ μάλιστα τὰ ἡδονῇ δελεάζοντα ἢ τῷ πόνῳ φοβοῦντα ἢ τῷ τύφῳ διαβεβοημένα· πῶς εὐτελῆ καὶ εὐκαταφρόνητα καὶ ῥυπαρὰ καὶ εὔφθαρτα καὶ νεκρά, νοερᾶς δυνάμεως ἐφιστάναι. τί εἰσιν οὗτοι, ὧν αἱ ὑπολήψεις καὶ αἱ φωναὶ τὴν εὐδοξίαν παρέχουσι. τί ἐστι τὸ ἀποθανεῖν, καὶ ὅτι, ἐάν τις αὐτὸ μόνον ἴδῃ καὶ τῷ μερισμῷ τῆς ἐννοίας διαλύσῃ τὰ ἐμφανταζόμενα αὐτῷ, οὐκέτι ἄλλο τι ὑπολήψεται αὐτὸ εἶναι ἢ φύσεως ἔργον· φύσεως δὲ ἔργον εἴ τις φοβεῖται, παιδίον ἐστί· τοῦτο μέντοι οὐ μόνον φύσεως ἔργον ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ καὶ συμφέρον αὐτῇ. πῶς ἅπτεται θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος καὶ κατὰ τί ἑαυτοῦ μέρος καὶ ὅταν πῶς ἔχῃ διακέηται τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦτο μόριον. How swiftly all things vanish! Bodies pass away into the world, and memories into eternity. How fleeting all our feelings, whether they entice us with pleasure, drive us with...

A precondition for science: we must know how to survive. The need for that knowledge necessarily conditions all that we come to know. Our mind is always gathering facts with some view toward to manipulating them toward survival, which is eternally in doubt. This means that knowledge is never pure, to us, that we cannot really achieve the kind of total objectivity that we often want. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, says Unamuno. < Spanish >. Hay, pues, primero la necesidad de conocer para vivir, y de ella se desarrolla ese otro que podríamos llamar conocimiento de lujo o de exceso, que puede a su vez llegar a constituir una nueva necesidad. La curiosidad, el llamado deseo innato de conocer, sólo se despierta, y obra luego que está satisfecha la necesidad de conocer para vivir; y aunque alguna vez no sucediese así en las condiciones actuales de nuestro linaje, sino que la curiosidad se sobreponga a la necesidad y la ciencia al hombre, el hecho primordial es que la cur...

Seneca writes to Lucilius about the life and character of the sage, a favorite topic in ancient philosophy. Here the discussion is specifically about friendship: what is its place in the life of a wise person? Do we need friends? Or are they merely pleasant? < Latin >. An merito reprehendat in quadam epistula Epicurus eos qui dicunt sapientem se ipso esse contentum et propter hoc amico non indigere, desideras scire. Hoc obicitur Stilboni ab Epicuro et iis quibus summum bonum visum est animus inpatiens. In ambiguitatem incidendum est, si exprimere ἀπάθειαν uno verbo cito voluerimus et impatientiam dicere; poterit enim contrarium ei quod significare volumus intellegi. Nos eum volumus dicere qui respuat omnis mali sensum: accipietur is qui nullum ferre possit malum. Vide ergo num satius sit aut invulnerabilem animum dicere aut animum extra omnem patientiam positum. Hoc inter nos et illos interest: noster sapiens vincit quidem incommodum omne sed sentit, illorum ...

Marcus here sets out his own practical theology. Faced with evident injustice in the world, ancient Mediterraneans had different options for coping, psychologically. Marcus mentions three common among his acquaintance: (i)  atheism  (the gods do not exist: this position was more oft discussed than taken, though it appears to have been given some serious thought by Theodorus of Cyrene); (ii)  divine irrelevance  (the gods exist, but when it comes to human affairs they lack power or interest: this was the Epicurean position, and the more common resort of many who might today be called atheists); and (iii)  divine transcendence  (the gods exist, and the world is ultimately a reflection of their power and interest: this is the Socratic and Stoic position, and Marcus takes it). In terms of motivation, the three positions actually agreed, largely, that we should avoid taking too much interest in things we cannot control. The atheists and Epicureans encou...

Where does knowledge originate? A question without final answers. But historical research suggests that its efficient raison d'être is to facilitate life. We perceive what need to survive. But humanity perceives more than that: what it could need, what it needed in the past, what it desires. And thus our knowledge is dangerous, and also incredibly powerful. < Spanish >. Mucho han disputado y mucho seguirán todavía disputando los hombres, ya que a sus disputas fue entregado el mundo, sobre el origen del conocimiento; mas dejando ahora para más adelante lo que de ello sea en las hondas entrañas de la existencia, es lo averiguado y cierto que en el orden aparencial de las cosas, en la vida de los seres dotados de algún conocer o percibir, más o menos brumoso, o que por sus actos parecen estar dotados de él, el conocimiento se nos muestra ligado a la necesidad de vivir y de procurarse sustento para lograrlo. Es una secuela de aquella esencia misma del ser, que, según ...

Seneca ends his epistle quoting Epicurus, Publilius Syrus, and Lucilius. He emphasizes that wisdom is available in many places where people might not expect it, notably the farces that were sort of like ancient Roman memes or Youtube clips: simple plays presented by actors who did not have any special training. Contrary to what some might think, it is not wrong to look outside cultural boundaries for wisdom. A Stoic can find wisdom in Epicurean philosophy, in poetry, in low comedy, in his friends' conversation, and in his own mind. If you serve philosophy well, you are free to find her everywhere. < Latin >. Sed iam finis faciendus est et aliquid, ut institui, pro hac epistula dependendum. Id non de meo fiet: adhuc Epicurum compilamus, cuius hanc vocem hodierno die legi : philosophiae servias oportet, ut tibi contingat vera libertas. Non differtur in diem qui se illi subiecit et tradidit: statim circumagitur; hoc enim ipsum philosophiae servire libertas est. ...

Anger and grief are better motives for wrongdoing than desire. All these motives should be restrained by reason ( logos ), Marcus thinks, but the mistakes that come from the former are less pernicious than those arising from the latter. This hierarchy in assessing crimes of passion is not purely theoretical, for Marcus; remember that he would have seen and ruled on serious legal cases, as a Roman magistrate, in addition to making decisions in private life—with friends and family, and alone. < Greek >. Φιλοσόφως ὁ Θεόφραστος ἐν τῇ συγκρίσει τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ὡς ἄν τις κοινότερον τὰ τοιαῦτα συγκρίνειε, φησὶ βαρύτερα εἶναι τὰ κατ’ ἐπιθυμίαν πλημμελούμενα τῶν κατὰ θυμόν. ὁ γὰρ θυμούμενος μετά τινος λύπης καὶ λεληθυίας συστολῆς φαίνεται τὸν λόγον ἀποστρεφόμενος· ὁ δὲ κατ’ ἐπιθυμίαν ἁμαρτάνων, ὑφ’ ἡδονῆς ἡττώμενος ἀκολαστότερός πως φαίνεται καὶ θηλύτερος ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις. ὀρθῶς οὖν καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἀξίως ἔφη μείζονος ἐγκλήματος ἔχεσθαι τὸ μεθ’ ἡδονῆς ἁμαρτανόμενον ἤπερ τὸ μ...

Unamuno distinguishes the human lust for knowledge from the animal absorption of necessary information. Animals—and people too, he says—naturally know what they need, recognizing their circumstances and responding appropriately. But this is not enough for people. We go beyond this, wanting to know not just how to survive, what to do here and now, but everything. To him this looks like an attribute that is both glorious and disastrous—as the Greeks would say, tragic . Our lust for constant reflection on everything might easily be framed in terms of disease, rather than health. It worries us, wears on us, breaks and beats and drives us. Is that healthy? < Spanish >. La historia de la Medicina, por otra parte, nos enseña que no consiste tanto el progreso en expulsar de nosotros los gérmenes de las enfermedades, o más bien las enfermedades mismas, cuanto en acomodarlas a nuestro organismo, enriqueciéndolo tal vez, en macerarlas en nuestra sangre. ¿Qué otra cosa significan la vac...

Seneca finishes his speech to posterity, praising the outlook on life that looks for happiness in basic food, clothing, and shelter. This matters more to him than fulfilling the various public duties associated with being a Roman noble in the Augustan Principate (posting bail for clients whom you defend in court, sealing a will disposing your goods to those most deserving, participating actively in the allocation of magistracies in the senate). If you tend the basics well, that is the best offering to gods and humanity that you can make, he says. < Latin >. Hanc ergo sanam ac salubrem formam vitae tenete, ut corpori tantum indulgeatis quantum bonae valetudini satis est. Durius tractandum est ne animo male pareat: cibus famem sedet, potio sitim exstinguat, vestis arceat frigus, domus munimentum sit adversus infesta temporis. Hanc utrum caespes erexerit an varius lapis gentis alienae, nihil interest: scitote tam bene hominem culmo quam auro tegi. Contemnite omnia quae supervac...

An important teaching of Stoic philosophy is that all life happens in accordance with the grand plan of Nature. This plan is not necessarily imagined as having or depending on any personal or conscientious agency. Instead, it emerges organically over time as plants and animals interact in environments built by the ongoing recombination of air, fire, earth, and water. The Stoics saw emergent order here as an expression of the great Reason or Word, of which our own rational capacity is but a tiny shadow. In every significant interaction, you want to watch yourself closely, finding a place where you fit into the dance of elements that was going on before you were born and will continue after you depart. When you find your place in the dance, you are as happy and as good as it is possible for you to be. The dance is always there, and you can always join it. < Greek >. Τούτων ἀεὶ δεῖ μεμνῆσθαι, τίς ἡ τῶν ὅλων φύσις καὶ τίς ἡ ἐμὴ καὶ πῶς αὕτη πρὸς ἐκείνην ἔχουσα καὶ ὁποῖόν τι μέρο...

Unamuno here begins to lay out his perspective on tragedy as the essential human condition. The tragedy of life, for him, is that it can only exist in constant dialogue with this other thing called death, its inseparable dance-partner. Health, from this perspective, might just be a well-managed disease. Progress is motion down a path taking us inevitably to the grave. No need to hurry! And every step forward is bittersweet. You can hear the Spanish < here >. Acaso las reflexiones que vengo haciendo puedan parecer a alguien de un cierto carácter morboso. ¿Morboso? ¿Pero qué es eso de la enfermedad? ¿Qué es la salud? Y acaso la enfermedad misma sea la condición esencial de lo que llamamos progreso, y el progreso mismo una enfermedad. ¿Quién no conoce la mítica tragedia del Paraíso? Vivían en él nuestros primeros padres en estado de perfecta salud y de perfecta inocencia, y Yavé les permitía comer del árbol de la vida, y había creado todo para ellos; pero les prohibió...

Seneca's message for posterity, including us: it is not enough to beware of evils. We must also beware of goods. Everything good in life can be evil, under the right circumstances. Happiness itself can induce us to make bad decisions; it will almost certainly do so, in fact, if we are ever so fortunate as to find it. What then? Stay tuned. You can listen to the Latin < here >. Tu me inquis  vitare turbam iubes, secedere et conscientia esse contentum? ubi illa praecepta vestra quae imperant in actu mori? Quid? ego tibi videor inertiam suadere? In hoc me recondidi et fores clusi, ut prodesse pluribus possem. Nullus mihi per otium dies exit; partem noctium studiis vindico; non vaco somno sed succumbo, et oculos vigilia fatigatos cadentesque in opere detineo. Secessi non tantum ab hominibus sed a rebus, et in primis a meis rebus: posterorum negotium ago. Illis aliqua quae possint prodesse conscribo; salutares admonitiones, velut medicamentorum utilium compositiones, litteris...

Watch yourself carefully. Feel your own movements—emotions, thoughts, intentions, regrets, reasons—and adjust the course of your expression accordingly. This is simple advice, yet still profound, especially when you consider how many of us spend time attempting to psychoanalyze others. Marcus might say that was time wasted, unless we used it to look inward, too. You can hear the Greek < here >. Παρὰ μὲν τὸ μὴ ἐφιστάνειν, τί ἐν τῇ ἄλλου ψυχῇ γίνεται, οὐ ῥᾳδίως τις ὤφθη κακοδαιμονῶν· τοὺς δὲ τοῖς τῆς ἰδίας ψυχῆς κινήμασι μὴ παρακολουθοῦντας ἀνάγκη κακοδαιμονεῖν. If we ignore the fact that we cannot understand what happens in another soul, still it is not easy for us to get a clear view of someone else suffering ill fortune. What is evident is that those who fail to attend the movements of their own soul must suffer badly.

Unamuno ends his first chapter with a list of tragic thinkers, and a glimpse at what the second chapter will examine: health and sickness, as these relate to his idea that life in the tragic sense belongs to peoples as well as individuals. You can hear the Spanish < here >. Ha habido entre los hombres de carne y hueso ejemplares típicos de esos que tienen el sentimiento trágico de la vida. Ahora recuerdo a Marco Aurelio, San Agustín, Pascal, Rousseau, René, Obermann, Thomson, Leopardi, Vigny, Lenau, Kleist, Amiel, Quental, Kierkegaard: hombres cargados de sabiduría más bien que de ciencia. Habrá quien crea que uno cualquiera de estos hombres adoptó su actitud―como si actitudes así cupiese adoptar, como quien adopta una postura―, para llamar la atención o tal vez para congraciarse con los poderosos, con sus jefes acaso, porque no hay nada más menguado que el hombre cuando se pone a suponer intenciones ajenas; pero honni soit qui mal y pense (†) . Y esto por ...