Michael Powell gave a beautiful eulogy for his Dad, Colin Powell, yesterday. He used this statement of Ralph Waldo Emerson towards the end. It made me smile, and think of this class! I think happiness is a wonderful result of living this way, don't you!?
Like Yogi Berra, Emerson didn't say everything he said. But there are some good thoughts here. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/11/29/purpose/
ReplyDeleteImmanuel Kant would have agreed (with whoever said it) that the purpose of life is not to be happy, but to be worthy of happiness.
My view: happiness is indeed one of life's great purposes. Maybe the greatest, so long as we don't choose it INSTEAD of virtue, honor, compassion, kindness etc. It is, at any rate, one of our "chief concerns" and maybe the chiefest.
What is it with many of the Philosophers gone by also being into
Deletemetaphysics?!!!
Metaphysics is the search for reality. Pretty hard to do philosophy without searching for THAT.
DeleteWell, damn! Now I feel really bad for Michael Powell...and Leo Rosten for not getting the credit for it! My view: "Happiness is like a Butterfly...." (one of my first posts here)! I think if we just relax and hold true to all the other "purposes", it will just be!
ReplyDeleteWe need more remarkable thoughtful and honorable people like Colin Powell was in government!
ReplyDeleteWell, except for that one glaring lapse when he was (apparently) duped into telling the world about those fake WMDs ("weapons of mass destruction"). But yes, he was so much more qualified to be president than his boss was, or-obviously-than the next of his party.
ReplyDeleteAnd one of the best things about him was he seemed to pay more attention to who one is/was as a person, than to their political party!
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