questions Category

Topics: Change Consistency Death Eternity Happiness Independence/Dependence Injustice Loss Normality Parenting Personal Identity (True Self) Questions Sacrifice Selfishness Strangeness Suffering Virtue

Philosophers: Emily Dickinson Fyodor Dostoevsky Ralph Waldo Emerson Alexander Hamilton Heraclitus Homer Franz Kafka Friedrich Nietzsche Plato Rainer Maria Rilke William Shakespeare Socrates Henry David Thoreau Ludwig Wittgenstein

Philosophical Understanding Comes As Much From The Questions As From The Answers
Text: Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

The word “philosophy” comes from ancient Greek roots meaning the love (philo) of knowledge or wisdom (sophia). In this letter Rilke suggests that philosophy is also a love of the questions themselves. Full essay.

We Must Become Philosophers To See That Philosophy is Relevant to Daily Life
Text: Franz Kafka, "On Parables"

Perhaps the most important objection ever raised against philosophical thought is that it is irrelevant to daily life.  In "On Parables," Franz Kafka considers this problem of the relevance of deep thought for everyday life.
Full essay.