Rembrandt, Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer, 1653
For it is owing to their wonder that men
both now begin and at first began to philosophize; they wondered originally at the obvious difficulties, then advanced little by little and
stated difficulties about the greater matters, e.g. about
the phenomena of the moon and those of the sun and of the
stars, and about the genesis of the universe. And a man
who is puzzled and wonders thinks himself ignorant (whence
even the lover of myth is in a sense a lover of Wisdom, for the myth is composed of wonders); therefore since they philosophized
order to escape from ignorance, evidently they were
pursuing science in order to know, and not for any
utilitarian end. And this is confirmed by the facts; for
it was when almost all the necessities of life and the things that
make for comfort and recreation had been secured, that such knowledge began to be sought. Evidently then we do not seek it for the sake
of any other advantage; but as the man is free, we say,
who exists for his own sake and not for another's, so we
pursue this as the only free science, for it alone exists
for its own sake.
Aristotle
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