One morning in the marketplace, as the townspeople are enjoying what they think is the beginning of a day like any other, a dishevelled man holding a lantern appears out of nowhere. "I seek God! I seek God!" he begins to scream indiscriminately at both no one and everyone. Soon enough, a crowd forms around this spectacle of a person, and once they understand what's happening, the townspeople can't help but burst into laughter at the ridiculous sight of someone crazy enough to be out looking for God with a lantern. The madman, getting more and more impatient about not being taken seriously, finally snaps back at his audience: "Where is God? I will tell you. We have killed him and I!"
Dumbstruck, the townspeople aren't laughing anymore, and now just stand there in a daze. Fed up with his failed efforts to be heard, the madman finally smashes his lantern on the ground in one last fit of rage, and leaves, issuing the townspeople a last cryptic warning:
"I have come too early; my time is not yet. This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves." (The Gay Science, Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882)
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Denne historien er fra August/September 2022-utgaven av Philosophy Now.
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The Two Dennises
Hannah Mortimer observes a close encounter of the same kind.
Heraclitus (c.500 BC)
Harry Keith lets flow a stream of ideas about permanence and change.
Does the Cosmos Have a Purpose?
Raymond Tallis argues intently against universal intention.
Is Driving Fossil-Fuelled Cars Immoral?
Rufus Duits asks when we can justify driving our carbon contributors.
Abelard & Carneades Yes & No
Frank Breslin says 'yes and no' to presenting both sides of an argument.
Frankl & Sartre in Search of Meaning
Georgia Arkell compares logotherapy and atheistic existentialism.
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray, now ninety-two years old, was, among many other things, one of the most impactful feminists of the 1970s liberation movements - before she was marginalised, then ostracised, from the francophone intellectual sphere.
Significance
Ruben David Azevedo tells us why, in a limitless universe, we’re not insignificant.
The Present Is Not All There Is To Happiness
Rob Glacier says don’t just live in the now.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life
Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.