The Need For Philosophy

Science tells us what we can know, but what we can know is little, and if we forget how much we cannot know we become insensitive to many things of very great importance. Theology, on the other hand, induces a dogmatic belief that we have knowledge where in fact we have ignorance, and by doing so generates a kind of impertinent insolence towards the universe. Uncertainty, in the presence of vivid hopes and fears, is painful but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales. It is not good either to forget the questions that philosophy asks, or to persuade ourselves that we have found indubitable answers to them. To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralysed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy can do for those who study it.

By Way of Introduction.

I am Herr Professor Doctor Doctor Theodore Thinkelspein, formerly of Berne and now resident in Monaco where I find the tax regime much to my liking. Before moving here for fiscal reasons I held the Chair of Philology and Epistemology at the University of Montpellier where I published no less than 1900 academic papers, many of which were considered to be the epitome of erudition and learning. I say this not by way of boast, but simply to warn that you are in the presence of a true polymath, though modesty forbids me to recite my full credentials. Nevertheless, despite the importunate demands upon my time, I hope to post here occasionaly, and trust that you will find the experience rewarding., as indeed you should, for it is not often that a genuine genius takes the not inconsiderable trouble to share his gifted knowledge with the less able. Until such time as I return, I shall bid you anon.