Hi. My name is George. Falling into a Labyrinth is a blog where I showcase my personal writings, primarily in philosophy. I touch upon ethics, epistemology, ancient philosophy, and philosophy of mind. Some of it is amusing, some of it is serious, some of it repetitive, and none of it is original.
Falling into a Labyrinth is itself a reference to a line in Plato’s Euthydemus, where Socrates likens the pursuit of knowledge to just that–falling into a labyrinth. And I think this is a very apt way to describe philosophy–arguments twist and turn, thoughts meander, and at best the way forward, much like in a labyrinth, is uncertain, and all one can do is hope for a clue, a spool of yarn, or a deus ex machina to save us from our ambitions.
A lot of my writing revolves around questions of how we should live, and how we can know this. My primary influences are the Stoics (Epictetus in particular), the Platonists (Plato, but also later Platonists like Plotinus), but all of the Western, and sometimes Eastern, tradition is fair game–I try to mimic Montaigne’s style (and by extension, Seneca’s), and attempt to produce work that is engaging, beneficial, and slightly obnoxious–though I can’t be certain of any of my positions. What I can hope for, is, at best, a momentary glimpse of something that approximates an answer–and yet, in a moment, the insight dissipates and I find myself back where I started, not very sure of anything.
Where pertinent, I quote my translations of Latin and Greek texts, and where pertinent, I use translations from others more competent than I.
I hope you find some of it useful.