When I began studying philosophy, I had one fundamental motivation: to clarify my thoughts and to frame my questions properly.
Philosophy had no answers to my questions. Problems posed on the existential level can only be resolved on the existential level. Yet the long and arduous journey was not in vain. It is precisely its gains that I wished to record in this essay.
First of all, I learned what I cannot claim or prove. I also learned something else: that no human being can live on what can be proved.
Then I learned to respect the phenomenon. I learned to value the truth and the quality of immediate experience. The realms of art, love, and communication expanded and grew richer-and from the very beginning, these were the most important realms for me.
And here again I arrive at a single word: freedom.
There is thought that liberates-and thought that enslaves.
A questioning attitude and the scientific method certainly liberate. Dogmatisms and ideologies enslave.
If I have helped a few people to open their minds, to free themselves from the guardianship (and the need) of dogmas, to understand that a life without dogma is not only possible but can also be profoundly positive, then I feel that I have done something worthwhile.
And that I can calmly play my next game of backgammon.
Knowing that life is at times tragic, at times incomprehensible, and at times wonderfully beautiful.
