Our minds often resemble a disordered library. We might be well-read, but not be able to use knowledge when we need it. In this episode we explore a short passage from Schopenhauer’s essay ‘On Thinking for Yourself’.

The passage:

As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself; because only through ordering what you know by comparing every truth with every other truth can you take complete possession of your knowledge and get it into your power. You can think about only what you know, so you ought to learn something; on the other hand, you can know only what you have thought about.

~ On Thinking for Yourself from Essays and Aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer

💭 Interesting links

* My edition of Schopenhauer’s Essays and Aphorisms

* This video by Aeon mag: The intellectual legacy of philosophy’s greatest pessimist: life is suffering, art is supreme

* Here are 6 books on philosophy that I recommend

* Philosophy for the Beginners - My YouTube video

* Michel Houellebecq’s short book on Schopenhauer is quite interesting.

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