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Articles

Philosophy and the Art of Living

Mark Vernon says don’t do philosophy, become a philosopher!

There was a comment once made about Thales, the man who is often in the West called the first philosopher. One day he was walking along, gazing at the heavens, when he fell into a ditch. As he cried out, a passing women retorted: “You philosophers, who cannot see what is before your feet!”

There was another comment, this time about Socrates, who has become the most famous and arguably the most important Western philosopher of all time. It was said by Cicero, one of his later admirers, that Socrates called philosophy “down from the heavens.” He did it by talking with people on the streets about the things that concerned them – from life and love to shoes and shopping – and in this way digging down to the basis of what they thought they knew.

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