Their [philosophers] thinking is, in fact, far less a discovery than a re-recognizing, a remembering, a return and a home-coming to a far-off, ancient common-household of the soul, out of which those ideas formerly grew: philosophizing is so far a kind of atavism of the highest order.

Friedrich Nietzsche
About This Quote

The reason why philosophers live in the present is that they are not concerned about the future, but they are still concerned about the past. This quote is by John Dewey, an American philosopher and educator. He was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1859. His parents were active in the Abolitionist movement, so he grew up learning about the past of slavery.

Dewey argued that philosophy is not just an activity of the mind, but rather a way of being. Philosophers are people who are always thinking about their past experiences and have learned to use them as a memory for living in the present.

Source: Beyond Good And Evil

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