Human life is finite and we can therefore never live a ‘complete’ life, which is something that is supposedly required in order to be authentic. Authenticity in almost all of its plausible forms, is essentially an illusory ideal we will never live up to.

According to the Dutch Golden-Age philosopher Baruch Spinoza, humans are captured by —in “bondage” to— their emotions, causing them to live substandard lives. It is only through reason and understanding reality that we can overcome the substandard life, by regulating our emotions, according to Spinoza.

The 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had a reputation as a misogynist. While there is validity to this reputation, he also happens to have written astoundingly useful things about relationships and love. How can we trust a notorious misogynist to bestow good advice on such matters?

Langauge and thought are tightly bound, but not necessarily inseparable. In fact, thought is more basic than language, and language depends on thought, not the reverse.