Lately I have been reading a book given to me as an, I think, apposite Christmas present. It is The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton and attempts to elucidate everyday relevance in the works of several famous philosophers.
[As an aside, in finding the link for this book I read the snatch of review for it by Martin Cohen from 'The Philosopher', I assume a philosophical magazine. I would research further but that would consume I feel unnecessary time when the likelihood is self evident. He comes down it seems not a fan of de Botton but it seems to me he has to accept the success of the format at popularising philosophy, for five minutes in the public eye anyway, and so can't be as damning as he would like to. Whilst I agree with the banal nature of the images used within the book and accept it is basically a rushed effort to coincide with a tv series, I am reading it without having seen the series, in fact all of de Botton that exists in my memory is as a vague balding image in a suit jacket and jeans I believe. I can't argue on the interpretation of the philosophers as I have not studied any of them intensively but although Cohen comments that the book is "platitudinous" it seems to me an important point to make that popular derision is not automatically a sign that the object of derision is inherently flawed. But I digress, in some way I suppose I am trying to exonerate my discussion that follows from accusations of my lack of authority to write what I have.]
I read of Socrates, Epicurus and Seneca with interest, aided by the easy style of the book, and gleaned some good and seemingly sensible advice about the use and value of logic, the elements most important in personal happiness and the ability to cope with lifes frustrations through a pragmatic and analytical viewpoint from these three. Some of the ideas seemed more a timely reaffirmation of general principles that I have tried to follow but, as we all know, sticking to a regime be it exercise, dietary or behavioural is a difficult task. An acceptance of ones limitations whilst not precluding attempts to better ones behaviour and attitudes is a principle to which I have tried to adhere and which appears to me to be vilified in the reported writings of the previously mentioned ancient philosophers.
On reading the fourth section I discovered the existence of Michel de Montaigne, a French philosopher of the 16th century. His views seem to be an antidote to what I assume has become the prevailing intellectual standpoint of the time and appears to still be the case to a great degree today. Well read of the classics he nevertheless advocated a non reverential attitude to those ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, not to be afraid to criticise certain books or ideas as less than brilliant and incisive. He bemoaned the excess of commentaries on these ancient works and the lack of original writing based on observation of personal experience.
"Whoever recalls to mind his last bout of anger...…sees the ugliness of this passion better than in Aristotle."
His own work, the "Essays" is, according to de Botton, filled with entreaties to tolerance, mutual understanding and acceptance. It also contains copious detail of the minutiae of his daily life, his likes and dislikes and personal anecdotes. He covers not only the mental but the physical, in most intimate detail, his shits, farts and burps. As well as showing a human individual behind the words it is an attempt to subvert taboos on what are suitable topics for conversation and thus give a more accurate portrayal of the whole person. Extremely rare in a serious book at that time such frankness is unusual even today, people generally preferring to maintain a distance between their print personality and their physical selves (this could be seen as a mirror of the body mind duality). In many ways Montaigne was ahead of his time, his attitude to the wholesale slaughter of the supposedly subhuman South American Indian tribes, such as the Tupi, by the conquistadores a prime example:
"Every man calls barbarous anything he is not accustomed to; we have no other criterion of truth or right-reason that the example and form of the opinions and customs of our own country. There we always find the perfect religion, the perfect polity, the most developed and perfect way of doing anything!"
I found much to agree with and admire in Montaigne, the previous quote I feel is all too relevant now as it was at the time of his writing. It is tempting to say that we have not learnt anything from that day to this in almost five hundred years, many of those consumed by warfare and general fighting within and between nation states, and writing from this time of intolerance and distrust of those we consider different in other countries and even our own. His more personal and intimate comments too struck a chord with me and stirred a certain feeling of behavioural kinship with regards his liking quiet when using the toilet and his regularity:
"My bowels and I never fail to keep our rendezvous, which is (unless some urgent business or illness disturbs us) when I jump out of bed."
Such mixture of the mundane and the more philosophical put in mind the blogosphere and its similar mixture of tone. In a way Montaigne's "Essays", which consisted of three volumes, were its confessional precursor, equal measures high minded and basely preoccupied. I hasten to add I do not mean to elevate or denigrate either by my use of those terms.
All this is really an explanation of the revival of inspiration that reading of him and his ideas has given me. A rejection of scholarly culture as:
"We are richer than we think, each one of us"
and an encouragement to mine the depths of my own experience to recover some hopefully useful conclusions. I should also mention that I am writing this on good old lined paper and with a red biro, the constant glare of the computer screen and lure of the interweb something of a set of headlights to the startled rabbit that is creative thought, or at least my creative thought. It seems that all the plans of what to research or write down when online fall out of the brain as soon as the fingers hit the keyboard and the little box says "You are now connected at 2Mb/sec."
P.S. In a brief afterthought I was in the library today, ended up borrowing a George Orwell biography so expect some Orwellian posts, I had a flip through the guardian. There was a piece about bloggers and the increasing encroachment of companies getting their views across, in some cases, a Wal-Mart example was used, feeding copy to bloggers to print. I must admit I may be a little naive but I feel the point of these things is not to promote product, theres enough bloody advertising in life anyway, but for people to share their ideas. There were also a couple of articles about myspace, it seems like the media beast has stirred since the Arctic Monkeys became their new five minute darling. Tell the truth I am already getting frustrated and annoyed by the whole myspace thing, it tires me looking at all those people. It is a bit like celebrity gossip, one is drawn in to it but ends up feeling cheapened by it all. Everyone, when the weather gets better turn off your computer set, and do something less boring instead.
FINAL THOUGHT: For those of you getting het up about wasting water (I'm not advocating being thoughtless here) see: A hosepipe would have to run 70,000 days to waste as much water as Thames Water leaks every day.(Private Eye No.1154)
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