hanged by Plato's rope.

Society, it seems to me, has a very effective mechanism for keeping people in line; if you say something people don't want to hear, then you're excluded from the conversation. I find that the more I study philosophy, the less possible it is to meaningfully discuss anything I care about with anyone else. I could say I feel like Benito Cereno, but you haven't read that either. The problem is that Socrate's message is a negative one. He is the wisest man alive because at least he realises his ignorance, which is to say if you think you know anything then you're wrong. It is a message that people don't want to hear, and once they had killed the messenger, it is a message which is largely ignored.

Night

The moon like a flower,
In heaven's high bower,
With silent delight
Sits and smiles on the night.

- William Blake, Night.

Regicide

I won a game of chess today; but I did not enjoy it. I did not enjoy because it is enjoyable; too enjoyable, too appealing, too much like tyranny. Therefore, because I naturally love it, I exercise my freedom to hate it.

People have done appalling things in history, but this only scares me because it could have been me doing them. People are doing appalling things around the world, but this only scares me because it could have been me doing them. People will do appalling things in the future, but this only scares me because it could be me doing them.

kant on dreamers:

When will you begin to live virtuously, Plato asked an old man who was telling him that he was attending a series of lectures on virtue. One must not just speculate for ever; one must one day also think about actual practice. But today we think that those who live as they teach are dreamers.

Immanuel Kant, The philosophical encyclopaedia.

lol

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