Pursuit of Knowledge Comes from Being Free

For it is owing to their wonder that men now both 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 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 myth is composed of wonders); therefore since they philosophized in 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 were present, that such knowledge began to be sought. Evidently then we do not seek it for the sake of any advantage; but as the man is free, we say, who exists for himself and not for another, so we pursue this as the only free science, for it alone exists for itself.

Notes:

From Aristotle's "Metaphysics". We pursue science not for Utilitarian ends, but for itself.

Folksonomies: pursuit of knowledge

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/science/social science/history/prehistory (0.194767)

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Complete Works of Aristotle, The: The Revised Oxford Translation

Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Barnes , Jonathan and Aristotle, (1983), Complete Works of Aristotle, The: The Revised Oxford Translation, Bollingen Foundation, Retrieved on 2011-09-09

Folksonomies: philosophy classic