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The torture of an unphilosophical life - UnHerd

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Even if you haven’t read Robert Musil’s unfinished modernist masterpiece, The Man Without Qualities, you probably agree that it has a great title. If you have read it, I’m sure you agree, because the novel returns obsessively to the theme of how its main character, Ulrich, can’t quite get his act, or, more fundamentally, his personality, together. But I’ve come up with an even better title. I think Musil should have called his novel The Man Without Philosophy. I acknowledge, in offering this improvement, that over the course of the novel Ulrich explicitly espouses a life-philosophy; moreover, he even fashions his own name for this philosophy, “essayism”. Essayism is a mode of living whose characteristic expression is a stretch of novel and insightful reflection, “explor[ing] a thing from many sides without encompassing it”. The essayist lives a life of thoughtful observations. Ulrich lives that life, and so does Musil, who is much more interested in filling his novel with thoughtful ob

The torture of an unphilosophical life The mind deserves a task worthy of its powers Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria. Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria. Christmas Reads 2024 Culture Agnes Callard Dec 26 2024 - 12:03am 6 mins Even if you haven’t read Robert Musil’s unfinished modernist masterpiece, The Man Without Qualities , you probably agree that it has a great title. If you have read it, I’m sure you agree, because the novel returns obsessively to the theme of how its main character, Ulrich, can’t quite get his act, or, more fundamentally, his personality, together. But I’ve come up with

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