Is trying enough?
A culture which doesn’t prize trying in itself only encourages people not to try hard enough. And when writers do that, the result is almost always trying, in the worst sense of the word.
ReadCategory: The Shrink and The Sage
Is philosophy therapeutic?
“There is no profit in philosophy when it doesn’t expel the sufferings of the mind,” claimed Epicurus. Some 2,300 years later, plenty of people still agree, most notably Alain de Botton, who in 2000 splashed this quote on the back cover of his book The Consolations of Philosophy. But when I hear this line trotted out, far from soothing my psyche, it provokes a dangerous surge in my blood pressure.
ReadIs gratification better delayed?
Delayed gratification is a Janus-faced virtue, used both as a tactic by hedonists to maximise pleasure and a strategy by ascetics to minimise it…
ReadWhat is the benefit of doubt?
Used properly, doubt is neither a dead end, nor an obstacle to be overcome, but a guide. That is not to say, however, that it is merely a means to an end, something that can be left behind once it has done its task. In order to maintain an awareness of other perspectives, and to keep testing the robustness of your own, doubt always needs to be a close companion, asking the difficult questions.
ReadShould we retreat?
Running away is sometimes exactly the right thing to do, and it can take courage to leave the familiar behind and go in search of something more uncertain, more unknown. Perhaps the taunt hurled at the ignoble knight Sir Robin – “He bravely ran away” – is not such an oxymoron after all.
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