Beyond Philosophy

Why does Marcus love his fate? Why does he believe that each of us has the moral duty to embrace our own fate with affection, with gratitude even? Here he explains his reasons for this hard position , which not everyone has found tenable (witness Epicurus, for one prominent ancient dissenter). Ὁποῖόν τί ἐστι τὸ λεγόμενον, ὅτι· συνέταξεν ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς τούτῳ ἱππασίαν ἢ ψυχρολουσίαν ἢ ἀνυποδησίαν, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι καὶ τό· συνέταξε τούτῳ ἡ τῶν ὅλων φύσις νόσον ἢ πήρωσιν ἢ ἀποβολὴν ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν τοιούτων. καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸ συνέταξε τοιοῦτόν τι σημαίνει· ἔταξε τούτῳ τοῦτο ὡς κατάλληλον εἰς ὑγίειαν, καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὸ συμβαῖνον ἑκάστῳ τέτακταί πως αὐτῷ (‡) κατάλληλον εἰς τὴν εἱμαρμένην. οὕτως γὰρ καὶ συμβαίνειν αὐτὰ ἡμῖν λέγομεν ὡς καὶ τοὺς τετραγώνους λίθους ἐν τοῖς τείχεσιν ἢ ἐν ταῖς πυραμίσι συμβαίνειν οἱ τεχνῖται λέγουσι, συναρμόζοντας ἀλλήλοις τῇ ποιᾷ συνθέσει. ὅλως γὰρ ἁρμονία ἐστὶ μία καὶ ὥσπερ ἐκ πάντων τῶν σωμάτων ὁ κόσμος τοιοῦτον σῶμα συμπληροῦται, οὕτως ἐκ πάντων τῶν αἰτίων ἡ εἱμαρμένη τοιαύ...

Unamuno continues discussing the insoluble, tragic conflict he discovers between head and heart, reason and life, philosophy and religion. Filosofía y religión son enemigas entre sí, y por ser enemigas se necesitan una a otra. Ni hay religión sin alguna base filosófica, ni filosofía sin raíces religiosas; cada una vive de su contraria. La historia de la filosofía es, en rigor, una historia de la religión. Y los ataques que a la religión se dirigen desde un punto de vista presunto científico o filosófico, no son sino ataques desde otro adverso punto de vista religioso. «La colisión que ocurre entre la ciencia natural y la religión cristiana no lo es, en realidad, sino entre el instinto de la religión natural, fundido en la observación natural científica, y el valor de la concepción cristiana del universo, que asegura al espíritu su preeminencia en el mundo natural todo», dice Ritschl ( Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung , III, cap. 4.º, § 28). Ahora, que ese instinto es el instinto mismo de ...

Seneca counsels himself, and Lucilius, to relinquish vice and embrace virtue before death. Tu me inquis mones? iam enim te ipse monuisti, iam correxisti? ideo aliorum emendationi vacas? Non sum tam improbus ut curationes aeger obeam, sed, tamquam in eodem valetudinario iaceam, de communi tecum malo colloquor et remedia communico. Sic itaque me audi, tamquam mecum loquar; in secretum te meum admitto et te adhibito mecum exigo. Clamo mihi ipse, numera annos tuos, et pudebit eadem velle quae volueras puer, eadem parare. Hoc denique tibi circa mortis diem praesta: moriantur ante te vitia. Dimitte istas voluptates turbidas, magno luendas: non venturae tantum sed praeteritae nocent. Quemadmodum scelera etiam si non sunt deprehensa cum fierent, sollicitudo non cum ipsis abit, ita improbarum voluptatum etiam post ipsas paenitentia est. Non sunt solidae, non sunt fideles; etiam si non nocent, fugiunt. Aliquod potius bonum mansurum circumspice; nullum autem est nisi quod animus ex se sibi in...

Marcus likes simple prayers that express our desire freely. Εὐχὴ Ἀθηναίων·        ὗσον, ὗσον, ὦ φίλε        Ζεῦ, κατὰ τῆς ἀρούρας        τῆς Ἀθηναίων        καὶ τῶν πεδίων. ἤτοι οὐ δεῖ εὔχεσθαι ἢ οὕτως ἁπλῶς καὶ ἐλευθέρως. A prayer offered by the Athenians:        Rain, dear Zeus        Upon our plains!        Upon the field        That bears our name! We should either refrain from prayer, or make it simple and free, like this one.

Unamuno contrasts will and intelligence, echoing Schopenhauer, whose most famous idea was that the world of humanity is fundamentally dual, being divided between Wille , or will (the love and lust for life that is not fixed in any particular form we give it), and Vorstellung , or representation (which is what intelligence produces: it represents the world to us in legible forms). La voluntad y la inteligencia se necesitan y a aquel viejo aforismo de nihil volitum quin praecognitum , no se quiere nada que no se haya conocido antes, no es tan paradójico como a primera vista parece retrucarlo diciendo nihil cognitum quin praevolitum , no se conoce nada que no se haya antes querido. «El conocimiento mismo del espíritu como tal —escribe Vinet en su estudio sobre el libro de Cousin acerca de los Pensamientos de Pascal—, necesita del corazón. Sin el deseo de ver, no se ve; en una gran materialización de la vida y del pensamiento, no se cree en las cosas del espíritu.» Ya veremos que cre...

Seneca tells Lucilius to study death. Meditate on it. Learn it, and you will know freedom while you unlearn servility and bondage. Desinere iam volebam et manus spectabat ad clausulam, sed conficienda sunt aera et huic epistulae viaticum dandum est. Puta me non dicere unde sumpturus sim mutuum: scis cuius arca utar. Exspecta me pusillum, et de domo fiet numeratio; interim commodabit Epicurus, qui ait meditare mortem , vel si commodius sic transire ad nos hic potest sensus: egregia res est mortem condiscere. Supervacuum forsitan putas id discere quod semel utendum est. Hoc est ipsum quare meditari debeamus: semper discendum est quod an sciamus experiri non possumus. Meditare mortem: qui hoc dicit meditari libertatem iubet. Qui mori didicit servire dedidicit; supra omnem potentiam est, certe extra omnem. Quid ad illum carcer et custodia et claustra? liberum ostium habet. Una est catena quae nos alligatos tenet, amor vitae, qui ut non est abiciendus, ita minuendus est, ut si quando re...

Marcus Aurelius reflects on the historical fact that human action occurs without perfect understanding. There is no such thing, for him, as knowing all possible consequences of any action. This means that he must evaluate actions with criteria that are never going to be strictly consequentialist or utilitarian. He is immune to the seductive appeal of rational arguments from self-evidence. The world of human action, for him, is led by willful persuasion rather than rational conviction, and its drivers are beyond human control. This does not make reason useless, or agents utterly unfree, in his view. There is room for reason and choice in the realm of human and animal action, but this room is not unlimited or unbounded. It is contained by nature, whose laws are above and beyond our power. Every action in nature is greater than any sum of its parts. Ὁ μέν τίς ἐστιν, ὅταν τι δεξιὸν περί τινα πράξῃ, πρόχειρος καὶ λογίσασθαι αὐτῷ τὴν χάριν. ὁ δὲ πρὸς μὲν τοῦτο οὐ πρόχειρος, ἀλλὰ μέντοι παρ’ ...

Unamuno develops his theme that reason and faith require one another, as foes, to render human life possible. We want to reconcile their war, but we cannot. This is the tragedy of our situation. Here he finds it in the history of European societies moving from the middle ages into the present. Al cristianismo, a la locura de la cruz, a la fe irracional en que el Cristo había resucitado para resucitarnos, le salvó la cultura helénica racionalista, y a ésta el cristianismo. Sin éste, sin el cristianismo, habría sido imposible el Renacimiento; sin el Evangelio, sin San Pablo, los pueblos que habían atravesado la Edad Media no habrían comprendido ni a Platón ni a Aristóteles. Una tradición puramente racionalista es tan imposible como una tradición puramente religiosa. Suele discutirse si la Reforma nació como hija del Renacimiento o en protesta a éste, y cabe decir que las dos cosas, porque el hijo nace siempre en protesta contra el padre. Dícese también que fueron los clásicos griegos red...

Seneca imagines how he will feel as he expels his last breath, at the end of his life. Incommodum summum est inquis minui et deperire et, ut proprie dicam, liquescere. Non enim subito impulsi ac prostrati sumus: carpimur, singuli dies aliquid subtrahunt viribus. E t quis exitus est melior quam in finem suum natura solvente dilabi? non quia aliquid mali ictus est et e vita repentinus excessus, sed quia lenis haec est via, subduci. Ego certe, velut appropinquet experimentum et ille laturus sententiam de omnibus annis meis dies venerit, ita me observo et alloquor: nihil est inquam adhuc quod aut rebus aut verbis exhibuimus; levia sunt ista et fallacia pignora animi multisque involuta lenociniis: quid profecerim morti crediturus sum. Non timide itaque componor ad illum diem quo remotis strophis ac fucis de me iudicaturus sum, utrum loquar fortia an sentiam, numquid simulatio fuerit et mimus quidquid contra fortunam iactavi verborum contumacium. Remove existimationem hominum: dubia semper...

Marcus admonishes himself to avoid open demonstrations of intelligence, to use wit as required without being caught in the snare of others' approval or admiration. This means occasionally playing the fool, a role that ironically requires quite a bit of wit!  Δριμύτητά σου οὐκ ἔχουσι θαυμάσαι· ἔστω, ἀλλὰ ἕτερα πολλά, ἐφ’ ὧν οὐκ ἔχεις εἰπεῖν· οὐ γὰρ πέφυκα. ἐκεῖνα οὖν παρέχου, ἅπερ ὅλα ἐστὶν ἐπὶ σοί, τὸ ἀκίβδηλον, τὸ σεμνόν, τὸ φερέπονον, τὸ ἀφιλήδονον, τὸ ἀμεμψίμοιρον, τὸ ὀλιγοδεές, τὸ εὐμενές, τὸ ἐλεύθερον, τὸ ἀπέρισσον, τὸ ἀφλύαρον, τὸ μεγαλεῖον. οὐκ αἰσθάνῃ πόσα ἤδη παρέχεσθαι δυνάμενος, ἐφ’ ὧν οὐδεμία ἀφυίας καὶ ἀνεπιτηδειότητος πρόφασις, ὅμως ἔτι κάτω μένεις ἑκών; ἢ καὶ γογγύζειν καὶ γλισχρεύεσθαι καὶ κολακεύειν καὶ τὸ σωμάτιον καταιτιᾶσθαι καὶ ἀρεσκεύεσθαι καὶ περπερεύεσθαι καὶ τοσαῦτα ῥιπτάζεσθαι τῇ ψυχῇ διὰ τὸ ἀφυῶς κατεσκευάσθαι ἀναγκάζῃ; οὐ μὰ τοὺς θεούς, ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν πάλαι ἀπηλλάχθαι ἐδύνασο, μόνον δέ, εἰ ἄρα, ὡς βραδύτερος καὶ δυσπαρακολουθητότερος καταγινώσκεσθαι. ...

Unamuno discusses the war between faith and reason as a foundation for life. Humanity requires us to have both of these qualities, which cannot exist except in opposition to one another. Here we see some insight into why Unamuno regards our situation as basically tragic. Podrá decirse, sí, que muerto el perro se acabó la rabia, y que después que me muera no me atormentará ya esta hambre de no morir, y que el miedo a la muerte, o mejor dicho, a la nada, es un miedo irracional, pero... Sí, pero ... Eppur si muove! ( † ) Y seguirá moviéndose. ¡Como que es la fuente de todo movimiento! Mas no creo esté del todo en lo cierto el hermano Kierkegaard, porque el mismo pensador abstracto, o pensador de abstracciones, piensa para existir, para no dejar de existir, o tal vez piensa para olvidar que tendrá que dejar de existir. Tal es el fondo de la pasión del pensamiento abstracto. Y acaso Hegel se interesaba tan infinitamente como Kierkegaard en su propia, concreta y singular existencia, aunqu...

Seneca tells Lucilius to embrace decrepit old age, especially if you are fortunate enough to keep your mind (as many in our time are not, alas). Many of the things you lose with it are offset, he finds, by concomitant advantages. Modo dicebam tibi in conspectu esse me senectutis: iam vereor ne senectutem post me reliquerim. Aliud iam his annis, certe huic corpori, vocabulum convenit, quoniam quidem senectus lassae aetatis, non fractae nomen est: inter decrepitos me numera et extrema tangentis. Gratias tamen mihi apud te ago: non sentio in animo aetatis iniuriam, cum sentiam in corpore. Tantum vitia et vitiorum ministeria senuerunt: viget animus et gaudet non multum sibi esse cum corpore; magnam partem oneris sui posuit. Exsultat et mihi facit controversiam de senectute: hunc ait esse florem suum. Credamus illi: bono suo utatur. Ire in cogitationem iubet et dispicere quid ex hac tranquillitate ac modestia morum sapientiae debeam, quid aetati, et diligenter excutere quae non possim facer...

There were pilgrims making progress before Bunyan, and the journey continues today. Πορεύομαι διὰ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν, μέχρι πεσὼν ἀναπαύσωμαι ἐναποπνεύσας μὲν τούτῳ, ἐξ οὗ καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀναπνέω, πεσὼν δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦτο, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ σπερμάτιον ὁ πατήρ μου συνέλεξε καὶ τὸ αἱμάτιον ἡ μήτηρ καὶ τὸ γαλάκτιον ἡ τροφός· ἐξ οὗ καθ’ ἡμέραν τοσούτοις ἔτεσι βόσκομαι καὶ ἀρδεύομαι· ὃ φέρει με πατοῦντα καὶ εἰς τοσαῦτα ἀποχρώμενον ἑαυτῷ. I make my way down nature's road, until I fall and cease, rendering my last breath back to the winds that fill my lungs each day, and delivering my body to the world, whence my father took his seed, my mother her blood, and my nurse the milk that made me. So many years I have nourished and watered myself from this world, which has borne me walking upon it, using and abusing it for so many purposes.

Unamuno quotes Kierkegaard, whose Unscientific Postscript (published in 1846) is written against Hegel, especially the Science of Logic ( Wissenschaft der Logik , published 1812-16). The unity of thought and being that Unamuno and Kierkegaard reject here is expressed in that book, making it easy to identify 'the sad figure of a professor' that Kierkegaard draws. Oigamos al hermano Kierkegaard, que nos dice: «Donde precisamente se muestra el riesgo de la abstracción, es respecto al problema de la existencia cuya dificultad resuelve soslayándola, jactándose luego de haberlo explicado todo. Explica la inmortalidad en general, y lo hace egregiamente, identificándola con la eternidad; con la eternidad, que es esencialmente el medio del pensamiento. Pero que cada hombre singularmente existente sea inmortal, que es precisamente la dificultad, de esto no se preocupa la abstracción, no le interesa; pero la dificultad de la existencia es el interés del existente; al que existe le intere...

Proper development of moral character requires some interaction with others. You cannot learn it by refusing to engage society. While the ethics of a crowd are not safe to imbibe or imitate wholesale, neither is the aspiring philosopher well-advised to run carelessly after whatever his personal tastes dictate, when he is alone. You can wreck with the group, on its terms, and alone, on yours. Temperance is learned as you consciously avoid the wreck, however that happens: it is generally easier to begin with help from those around you. Find the right teachers! Then, become your own teacher. Tu nobis te, ut facis, fortem praesta et sarcinas contrahe; nihil ex his quae habemus necessarium est. Ad legem naturae revertamur; divitiae paratae sunt. Aut gratuitum est quo egemus, aut vile: panem et aquam natura desiderat. Nemo ad haec pauper est, intra quae quisquis desiderium suum clusit cum ipso Iove de felicitate contendat, ut ait Epicurus, cuius aliquam vocem huic epistulae involvam. Prodest...

Marcus advises himself to avoid considering what kids today call optics , how decisions look as opposed to what they are. If you only act to look good, you inevitably wind up doing bad things. Ἄξιον ἑαυτὸν κρῖνε παντὸς λόγου καὶ ἔργου τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν καὶ μή σε περισπάτω (†) ἡ ἐπακολουθοῦσά τινων μέμψις ἢ λόγος, ἀλλά, εἰ καλὸν πεπρᾶχθαι ἢ εἰρῆσθαι, μὴ σεαυτὸν ἀπαξίου. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ ἴδιον ἡγεμονικὸν ἔχουσι καὶ ἰδίᾳ ὁρμῇ χρῶνται· ἃ σὺ μὴ περιβλέπου, ἀλλ’ εὐθεῖαν πέραινε ἀκολουθῶν τῇ φύσει τῇ ἰδίᾳ καὶ τῇ κοινῇ, μία δὲ ἀμφοτέρων τούτων ἡ ὁδός. Deem yourself worthy and capable of every word and action that proceeds from nature. Don't let the blame or reasons of others change your course once you've embarked: if it is a good thing you've done or said, don't condemn yourself. Others have their own ruling principle, and make use of their own motivations that do not belong to you. Don't look at everything around you as you set forth. Instead, run a straight course to its c...