Tag: Laughter
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Light laughter and genuine curiosity
There are two connected attitudes toward living a well-led life that cannot be adopted by anyone who believes that the mind is inherently sickly and prone to illness. (The sickly mind is consistent with the metaphysical view of the world as being bad and ugly.) These attitudes are light laughter and genuine curiosity, and both spring from a…
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On the meaning of sighs: A philosophical conversation followed by a lullaby
The following is a short excerpt from a philosophical conversation I had recently with one conversation partner. Afterward: an afterthought, an extra thought, a lullaby of a kind. — She wrote, I sigh. Yes I sigh. The cosmic breath, of all men, of all women Of more creation, loss and love to come. I…
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On good humor and good thinking
1 The story goes that Plato is giving a lecture in the Academy on the essence of man. “What is man?” he asks. His pupils listen intently. “Man,” he answers, “is a featherless biped.” It is these properties that, conjointly, distinguish us from the mere brutes. At which point, Diogenes of Sinope bursts into the…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 