The different ways in which philosophical traditions have conceived time turn out to be far from mere metaphysical curiosities. They shape the way we think about both our temporal place in history and our relation to the physical places in which we live. It provides one of the easiest and clearest examples of how borrowing another way of thinking can bring a fresh perspective to our world.
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You could never call Plato overrated. He was clearly a genius of sorts. He set the terms of philosophical debates that have run for millennia and many of his own positions have lasted as long, albeit with revisions. But on virtually every point that mattered he was disastrously wrong, and his errors entrenched fundamental mistakes that would hamper philosophy and intellectual culture forever more.
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I share the stereotypically British dislike of bragging and affection for self-deprecation. I also think the self-critical impulse is essential[…]
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There is much to celebrate in our changing attitudes to ageing. I certainly don’t want us to go back to the attitudes of my British grandmother’s generation, for whom getting old seemed to involve mainly sitting at home, watching the television and waiting for visitors. However, I also worry that our positivity has a flip-side – Denial Of Getting Old. Our reluctance to get old before our time leads us to pretend we’re still young beyond our time.
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Does it matter whether our pleasures are spiritual or carnal, intellectual or stupid? Or are all pleasures pretty much the same?
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