Why I Read the Classics
Besides science and the proper study of physics using the scientific method, the ancients have already created and developed everything: metaphysics, epistemology, logic, geometry, tragedy, comedy, politics, etc… All of human nature is so carefully explored already. All the modern philosophers of today can do is improve upon their works of genius.
For example, Sophocles’ “Theban Plays” contain in them the consequences of hubris and teaches us to avoid it like the plague. Seneca’s “On the Shortness of Life” forces us to reckon our mortality and reminds us that life is too precious, to note waste it on idle things like sports events, fashions, and other fickle things. Euclid, the “Father of Geometry”, created in his “Elements” the single greatest source of logical thought and gathered together some of the most beautiful theorems/ideas in nature even to date. The “Logic” of Aristotle is considered one of the finest and most beautiful sources of organized logical thought ever written – the syllogism (If A then B, etc…) can be attributed to his musings. Aeneas, Virgil’s epic hero of the “Aeneid” can probably put any action hero to shame with his bad-assedness! Considering even the book of “Proverbs” written by King Solomon over his lifetime, they contain some of the most helpful thoughts on life – like not to waste time reading useless books, that there is no end to them (think David/Amy Sedaris or Danielle Steel)!
The classicists had it all! What modern philosopher alive today, or author currently living, can be said to produce works that are as lasting and as applicable, or even as profound as any of the above? You can probably count them on one hand! Religious writers, political authors, journalists, very little is written today that has any lasting value or is worth considering anymore.
Granted that during the time of these classicists there must have been a ton of people generating volumes and volumes of garbage. These works endured because they were buoyed above all the flotsam. Still, considerably little is generated today, and nothing that even compares in quality to the works of the ancients.
I almost never read anything written today, save for the news. Life is so short, why fill your head with garbage when you can live with the wisdom of a great many people and lead a higher quality of life (Seneca)? Live happy, read classics!
