Cyrus Eaton Jr. on Bertrand Russell, Jean Paul Satre, and a Life Worth Living
John, here is a tape I found in an old tape recorder. Dad is speaking. The last paragraph continued many, many pauses.
“This is supposed to be by Bertrand Russell, but I doubt it. Whoever the author is, near the end, he said
The purpose of life is to live it in an as interesting a manner as possible. My question is, isn’t there a better word or more appropriate word to use than interesting? Then a little later, he goes on to say when talking about Jean Paul Sartre that the literary medium of the novel provides the perfect vehicle for a reflection on human predicament. In the end the author sums up what he is saying by pointing out that there is no civilization but the Greeks in which a philosophical movement goes hand and hand with a scientific tradition.
The very last sentence is
For man, the unexamined life is indeed not worth living.
The period of greatness of ancient Greece lasted five hundred years. The middle ages lasted 1200 years. The Chinese, Hindus, and Egyptian people are the only ones living today who are as old as the Jewish people.
Goodbye to all that. Our last happy years together. The wonderful last years together. Life goes on.”
“This is supposed to be by Bertrand Russell, but I doubt it. Whoever the author is, near the end, he said
The purpose of life is to live it in an as interesting a manner as possible. My question is, isn’t there a better word or more appropriate word to use than interesting? Then a little later, he goes on to say when talking about Jean Paul Sartre that the literary medium of the novel provides the perfect vehicle for a reflection on human predicament. In the end the author sums up what he is saying by pointing out that there is no civilization but the Greeks in which a philosophical movement goes hand and hand with a scientific tradition.
The very last sentence is
For man, the unexamined life is indeed not worth living.
The period of greatness of ancient Greece lasted five hundred years. The middle ages lasted 1200 years. The Chinese, Hindus, and Egyptian people are the only ones living today who are as old as the Jewish people.
Goodbye to all that. Our last happy years together. The wonderful last years together. Life goes on.”