Why We Think the Things We Think

the way of truth and the way of opinion.

The dangers of global warming, world poverty, famine and disease and sustainable energy resources have switched the emphasis away from the individual to the global question of how humans as a species can survive. This could therefore be the challenge for the philosophy of the future

The deep pain that is felt at the death of every friendly soul arises from the feeling that there is in every individual something which is inexpressible, peculiar to him alone, and is, therefore, absolutely and irretrievably lost

The suggestion is that unless people reflect on their experiences and cultivate a mind based on wisdom, strength and self-determination, they are doomed to live a zombie-like existence which is not in harmony with the formula of universal flux that governs the nature of the universe.
‘Character is destiny.’

Everything changes and nothing remains still and you cannot step twice into the same river.

Truth in philosophy means that concept and external reality correspond.’

why you, individual, exist, this ask yourself, and if no one can tell you, then try to justify the meaning of existence a posteriori by setting for yourself some purpose, some goal, some ‘therefore’, a high and noble ‘therefore’. Perish in pursuit of your goal – I know no higher life-purpose than to perish in the pursuit of something great and impossible

Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.’

People should estimate things of value to their long-term self-interests and abstain from things that provide pleasure in the short term for this will, in due course, lead to greater pleasures in the future.

Social freedom provides an alternative whereby an individual enters into a social contract and submits to the desires of the general will of a community or collective.