When first the Fox saw the Lion he was terribly frightened, and ran away and hid himself in the wood. Next time however he came near the King of Beasts he stopped at a safe distance and watched him pass by. The third time they came near one another the Fox went straight up to the Lion and passed the time of day with him, asking him how his family were, and when he should have the pleasure of seeing him again; then turning his tail, he parted from the Lion without much ceremony.

-Aesop,  The Fox and the Lion

“A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they are about. Therefore a wise lord cannot, nor ought he to, keep faith when such observance may be turned against him, and when the reasons that caused him to pledge it exist no longer. If men were entirely good this precept would not hold, but because they are bad, and will not keep faith with you, you too are not bound to observe it with them. Nor will there ever be wanting to a prince legitimate reasons to excuse this nonobservance. “

-Niccolo Machiavelli – Concerning The Way In Which Princes Should Keep Faith, “The Prince”

“But let us remember that we must have regard for justice even towards the humblest. Now the humblest station and the poorest fortune are those of slaves; and they give us no bad rule who bid us treat our slaves as we should our employees: they must be required to work; they must be given their dues. While wrong may be done, then, in either of two ways, that is, by force or by fraud, both are bestial: fraud seems to belong to the cunning fox, force to the lion; both are wholly unworthy of man, but fraud is the more contemptible. But of all forms of injustice, none is more flagrant than that of the hypocrite who, at the very moment when he is most false, makes it his business to appear virtuous. This must conclude our discussion of justice.”

-Cicero, De Officiis

“Falsehood and error always depend upon the intrusion of opinion when a fact awaits confirmation or the absence of contradiction, which fact is afterwards frequently not confirmed or even contradicted following a certain movement in ourselves connected with, but distinct from, the mental picture presented- which is the cause of the error.” (Letter to Herodotus)“

Which essentially says that whenever something happens to us, or when we decide to do something, we hold an opinion in addition to a fact in its plainness and nakedness.

“My house has burned down”

This is a fact.

“Something bad has happened to me. I have suffered.”

This is an added opinion to the fact.

These things which I am telling myself. Are they objective? Is this the only way to see it? Is it possible to see it in another way? Are my views influenced by the beliefs of my friends, family, or someone else that presumably has “authority”?

Marcus Aurelius adopted this philosophy as well.

“That you don’t know for sure it is a mistake. A lot of things are means to some other end. You have to know an awful lot before you can judge other people’s actions with real understanding.”

Meditations, 11.18

More to come on this Socratic nature of the questioning of knowledge, focusing on questioning of “self-knowledge”, “inner thoughts”, and outward actions that result from them.

The Greeks have known since the time of Homer and Hesiod that it is possible to modify people’s decisions and inner dispositions by the careful choice of persuasive words.

The right way to act upon other’s consciences:

Showing benevolence to people who have made mistakes. In word and action,

“not chiding him and making him feel that we are putting up with him, but with frankness and goodness, …

with gentleness, without irony, not reproachfully but with affection, with a heart exempt from bitterness…

as a person to another person, even if others are standing nearby.”

-Marcus Aurelius Meditaitions (XI.13)

Here Marcus means that gentleness in itself, is such a gentle thing. That merely to want to be gentle means ceasing to be gentle, because any kind of artifice or affectation destroys gentleness.

We can act effectively upon other people only when we do not try to act upon them. Only pure gentleness and delicacy have the power to make people change their minds, even to convert and transform them.

Similarly then, when we want to do good to others, our intention to do good will be truly pure only if it is spontaneous and unselfconscious. The perfect benefactor is unaware of what he is doing.

“We must be one of those who do good unconsciously.”

-Meditations (V,6,3)

*This post is adapted from Pierre Hadot’s “What is Ancient Philosophy?“

If there is ever a good reason why I would not further my education in the field of Philosophy, it would probably be because the field is no longer taught nor practiced the way it was meant to be, in its original conception. Academia seem to be more preoccupied with the history of philosophy, than Philosophy itself.

The late Pierre Hadot, who was a French Professor Emeritus, College de France, compares Philosophy during the Classical period with what it is today, and puts it this way:

“…the conditions of the teaching of philosophy were very different from what they are now. Modern students study philosophy only because it is a required course; at the most a student may become interested by an initial contact with the discipline and may wish to take exams on the subject. In any case it is chance that will decide whether the student will encounter a professor who belongs to a particular “school”, be it phenomenological, existentialist, deconstructionist, structuralist, or Marxist. Perhaps, someday, he will pledge alliegeance to one of these “isms”; in any case, his adherence will be intellectual and will not engage his way of life, with the possible exception of Marxism. For us moderns, the notion of a philosophical school evokes only the idea of a doctrinal tendency or theoretical position.

Things were very different in antiquity. No university obligations oriented the future philosopher toward a specific school; instead, the future philosopher came to attend classes in the school of his choice as a function of the way of life practiced there. Once led into a classroom by chance, however, the student might unexpectedly become converted as he heard a master speak.

This was the story of Polemo, after a night of debauchery, entered Xenocrates school one morning on a dare with a band of drunken comrades. Seduced by the master’s discourse, Polemo decided to become a philosopher, and later became head of the school. No doubt this is an edifying fiction; nevertheless, it could appear to be completely believable.”

Pierre Hadot “What is Ancient Philosophy?” (Translated by Michael Chase)

photo by Samantha Decker

In fact Xenophon gives us a humble view of Plato’s brother, Glaucon. During a conversation between Socrates and Glaucon (in which the latter was aspiring to become a head of state) A series of questions by Socrates leaves makes him realize that he really isn’t prepared for the top position, his vain ego in danger of crumbling.

Socrates gives a most humbling remark to the elder brother of Plato.

“If a man can’t carry one talent in weight, surely it’s obvious he shouldn’t even try to carry more than one.”

“How sweet it is to watch from dry land when the storm-winds roil

A mighty ocean’s waters, and see another’s bitter toil-

Not because you relish someone else’s misery-

Rather, it’s sweet to know from what misfortunes you are free,

Pleasant it is even to behold contests of war

Drawn up on the battlefield, when you are in no danger,

But there is nothing sweeter than to dwell in towers that rise

On high, serene and fortified with teachings of the wise,

From which you may peer down upon the others as they stray

This way and that, seeking the path of life, losing their way:

The skirmishing of wits, the scramble for renown, the fight,

Each striving harder than the next, and struggling day and night,

To climb atop a heap of riches and lay claim to might,

O miserable minds of men! O hearts that cannot see!

Beset by such great dangers and in such obscurity

You spend your little lot of life! Don’t you know it’s plain

That all your nature yelps for is a body free from pain,

And, to enjoy pleasure, a mind removed from fear and care?

And so we see the body’s needs are altogether spare-

Only the bare minimum to keep suffering at bay,

Yet which can furnish pleasures for us in a wide array.”

-Lucretius, De Rerum Natura (On The Nature of Things)

, II.1-23

Trans. by A.E. Stallings

Remind yourself of the kinds of things you have passed through and the kinds you have had strength to endure; that the story of life is written and your service accomplished. How many beautiful things have been revealed, how many pleasures and pains you have looked down upon, how many ambitions ignored, to how many unkind persons you have been kind!

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (A.S.L. Farquharson translation) (5.31)

Photo by Milo Riano

At Redhill MRT station, a woman came up to me looking desolate, mud on her ankles, pleading for some money.

For the life of me, I could not make sense of her incoherent words, but I was willing to pay for her cab fare to anywhere to get more help. I asked her how much she needed, and she replied “As much as you can help”.

Caution welled up inside me, and I gave her $30. But she asked if I could go to an ATM to get more, telling me now she had to go around asking for more.

I wished her luck before walking away. She seemed frustrated and irritated.

***
You have (and must) control your own actions and interpretations, but accept the fact that you will have
no control over how others judge and act, especially in response to you.

It is their problem, not mine. Choose not to be offended, and you will not be. It is how you interpret it. Treat him with kindness, and if possible, say to him:

“No, no, my friend. Thats not why we’re here for. It isn’t me who’s harmed by that. It’s you.”

Then show him how so. Do it without intention of malice or hurt to others. A man is one who has the strength of kindness and guts- not whining, complaining, and reacting. Strength dissipates when you choose to be offended, and harbor malice.

For there are two rules we should always have at hand: That nothing is good or evil, but choice, and, That we are not to lead events, but to follow them. “My brother ought not to have treated me so”. Very true, but it is for him to see to that. However he treats me, I am to act rightly with regard to him. For this is my concern, the other is somebody else’s; this no one can hinder, the other is open to hindrance.”
-Epictetus, Discourses, 3.10.19

“It was for this that I was training,
It was for this I have been exercising.”

Why else do you study philosophy? Is it not to prepare yourself for such future events?