A Great Day for Philosophy

[Sweeney]

4. Who wants to be a philosopher

has never tried.

The hardest part of it as far as I can tell is knowing what everyone else said so you don't say it twice. As far as doing goes, forget philosophy. There are only a handful of doers in the history of philosophy. One that was too active in English politics, and I forget his name. Socrates, who got way too involved in politics to claim innocence, and Heidegger with the Nazi's.

To me, you may as well sail the boat as go along for the ride. Otherwise it is more safe and sensible to keep all your opinions comfortably general. Marx was another philosopher who could have stayed a tad more aloof. His manifesto just gave the rich the news that we were coming for them. I was trying to keep that as a surprise.

Sweeney