All human action is caught in a fundamental polarity of ruling and being ruled. If we are incapable of being ruled, we cannot rule – neither ourselves, nor the world in which we find ourselves. This simultaneously active and passive aspect of human nature is the topic of Martin Seel’s new book. The writings collected here, while apparently searching for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful in an almost Classical manner, seek to explore the tensions between knowing and non-knowing, appreciation and attention, expressiveness and imagination. Philosophising means nothing less than going on a journey between the regions of our understanding of ourselves: a map where there must always be unknown territories.
