Philosophy isn't programmed into us, and a lot of the forces of our culture steadfastly work against it. … - Simon Critchley

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The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music.

Simon Critchley

Philosophy isn't programmed into us, and a lot of the forces of our culture steadfastly work against it. Philosophy, for me, is a way of resisting the nihilism of the present by making, creating, affirming. By going on.

Affirming, Creating, Forces, Nihilism, Philosophy

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I have argued that philosophy doesn't begin in wonder or in the fact that things are, it begins in a realization that things are not what they might be. It begins with a sense of a lack, of something missing, and that provokes a series of questions.

Philosophy, Missing, Realization, Things, Sense

It is so ridiculous to limit oneself to one version of the truth.

Limits, Oneself, Ridiculous, Version

Just to say "Well, God is dead" in one breath is to say, in another, that nothing means anything. This is the moment of nihilism. Nihilism is the affirmation of meaninglessness.

Mean, Nihilism, Affirmation, Moment, Dead

In relation to the question of hope, I think the only hope we have is hope against hope. We hope for a better world. But of course we can do better than just hope.

Thinking, World, Relation, Think, Against, Question

If the denial of death is self-hatred, as it is to deny our freedom and live in fear of death (which is to say, to live in a form of bondage), then the acceptance and affirmation of death is indeed a form of self-love. But I'd want to make a distinction between a form of self-love which is essential to what it means to be human, and a narcissism of self-regard, like Rousseau's distinction between amour de soi and amour propre, self-love and pride.

Acceptance, Death, Human, Make, Mean, Pride