lepartiprisdeschoses reblogged
This is evident with persons. The more "they dare to appear what they are" through speech and action before others, and the more perspectives gained on the person through, e.g., historical records, the more there is, e.g. of "Thomas Jefferson"... Compare the translated text from a passage from Schiller's Maria Stuart: "...and what she is, that dares she to appear."
I kind of like "dare to appear" as a motto more than "dare to know" ("sapere aude"), but that needs to be qualified. Like, if I'm not recording absolutely every aspect of my life 24/7, I'm technically keeping myself "in the dark" from others. Concealment isn't necessarily dishonesty, and presence isn't always preferable to absence.
That, and learning more about "Thomas Jefferson" and others isn't always going to be pleasant even when it's justified. That's a risk you can't eliminate from aletheia either.
Hobbes's doctrine concerning appearances has implications for the way he understands the human condition. For classical philosophy, to be without display (whether without reputation or without friends) is to be deficiently, but Hobbes reduces moral appearance to vanity, to empty show.
I want to appear to others more, in a good way though.
(first quotations are from James G. Hart, this one's from Robert Sokolowski)
