My Place in History
Posted in Funny Historian and tagged with Lists, Reading on March 13, 2008Have you ever wondered if your name would ever be found in a future history book? Sometimes I contemplate what it would be like to be earth-shakingly famous. I don’t know that it’d be a life I would enjoy, but I do want to be a positive influence on the world around me.
If I ever were to be found in a history book, these are the kinds of things I wish could be said about me. All of these statements actually can be found in a book I recently read for philosophy class: The Story of Philosophy by Bryan Magee. And yes, I may have learned a thing or two about philosophical history while reading it, too.
1. “…this gave [her] three things that were greatly to promote [her] intellectual development: acces to a first-class library, extensive foreign travel, and the opportunity to meet unusually interesting people at home and abroad.” (actually said about Thomas Hobbes, p.78)
2. “[She] refused to settle to any profession, but just went on being a brilliant student, long after [her] allowance had been cut off.” (actually said about Denis Diderot, p.124)
3. “While still in [her] twenties [s]he wrote [her] masterpiece…” (actually said about Arthur Schopenhauer, p.138)
4. “…then took to satirical writing. At this [s]he was very brilliant very young…” (actually said about Voltaire, p.122)
5. “…was an unusually wide genius, even for a great philosopher.” (actually said about Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, p.96)
6. “Actually [s]he did extremely little paid work in the course of [her] life: instead, [s]he chose to live in poverty most of the time and pursue [her] studies and [her] writing.” (actually said about Karl Marx, p.164)
7. “Although [s]he never left [Raleigh she] became internationally famous in his lifetime.” (actually said about Immanuel Kant, p.132)
8. “Without being in any way sugary [s]he seems to have been loved by everyone.” (actually said about David Hume, p.112)
What things would you want said about you?
March 13th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Looks like you should’ve been a man :)
March 14th, 2008 at 7:00 am
I would want to go down in history as someone who cared for others and made a positive impact in their lives.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
“She was a good mother, a loving wife, and you could always count on her in a pinch.” That’s how I want to be remembered.
March 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
She was kind to others, irregardless of their status in life.