Oldal 15 [15]
Ina philosophical sense, there is no other without a same, and the
same can have no content without the other. I cannot make a judg¬
ment about an other without simultaneously making a judgment
about myself. Nolens volens. This is true whether I want it or not,
whether I am conscious of it or not. Judgment — like anger — passes
judgment the other and the same. This is reminiscent what Seneca
writes in De Ira, that anger comes with a judgment on the one who
is angry, not just on the person one is angry at. In his wise words:
“non expedit omnia videre, omnia audire”. It means: “it is better
not to see or to hear everything: many causes of offence may pass
by us, most of which are disregarded by the man who ignores them.
Would you not be irascible? then be not inquisitive.” (Seneca 1900,
I11.11.1.) Let us vow to do this. Let us try to follow this principle.
It is worthwhile, even if it is difficult. (Besides, I believe that in our
crazy world a stoical mindset is the only one that makes the world
around us bearable.) At the same time, we do not mean judgment
in the ethical sense. For now.
The above are conveyed by the fundamental laws of classical,
traditional logic:
1. The law of identity
2. The law of contradiction
3. The law of the excluded third
4. The law of sufficient reason
According to the law of identity, everything must be identical
to itself, which is to say that a thought about a thing must be