I think, therefore I am

it doesn’t matter if we live in 2025 a.C or 1899 b.C. We are all shaped by our families, experiences, societies… And the stories we heard and read.

All these answer partially the questions of "who am I?" "where do I go to?" "what is my purpose in life?".

Some have found the core answers through religion. Others, through thought and discussion. We have found different theories that answer those intense inner questions.

Philosphy has shaped the world we live in. Even nowadays, we are all a mix of different currents of opinion, spiritualities and ways of thought as different as we all are. Some think men are in essence cruel; some others think that only the return to nature can make us feel connected, whole and with purpose. Others support the idea that we can overcome everything by sheer will power. And some others think that only the search of pleasure is the way to happiness.

But are they answers to who we are? or are they shaped by the tempers of the thinkers? Who knows.. What I think is absolutely true is that we choose to believe those ideas because they reflect who we are. We reinforce ourselves. And we dress and act also accordingly.

Two of the most influential philosophers in the West lived very apart. One though the man is good by nature and nature nurtures him. The other, who held the maximum power at his time, accepted the fragility of life, the ups and downs of emotions and practice detachment.

They are:

• Marcus Aurelius

philosophy teacher

One of the most famous emperors, not for his war exploits but by his meditations. A man of profound sensitivity and reflection. A man who did not care about the glamour, the shining, and the frivolities of his role. But one man who decided to study, learn, understand the human nature and offer answers to the basic questions a man or a woman can put to themselves.

The choice of palette shows the distance and calm in which he observes life and his fellow men. The brown loafers, the corduroy elbow patches and the pipe make him more human, more "earthly", like the rest of us.

That's why I thought... where and when could philosophy be taught, respected, and could influence young minds? Italy at the end of the 60s and 70s. A time of social revolutions. A time of finding answers and he could perfectly be a teacher then.

And he is still.

• Jean Jacques Rousseau

English University Teacher

Who does not know of him? Enlightment period, contemporary both to the Enciclopaedia and the English industrial revolution. Some of his ideas were base for the French Revolution. And he changed the ideas about education of children, and the view of the human character.

"The man is good by nature" he proclaimed. It's society, poverty and education (or the lack of) that makes us be beasts towards another. The return to nature instead of the unrelently pursuit of wealth and social standing.

The choice of natural fabrics and colours speak of his passion for nature, for simplicity, for life. And the robe adds the accent on the importance he gave to education and the proximity of parents to their children.

Because of that I chose him to be an English University teacher after WWI. Contemporary to other writers and teachers, like C.S.Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien, who in their works elaborated the importance of nature in front of the dehumanization brough by Industrialism, which awful effects were seen in the trenches, where all new inventions were used to destroy human life.

The man is good by nature... I think we could be.

If we choose it.