The Chinese philosophers were not only averse to epistemology,they had an almost gallic disdain for prolonged metaphysics No young metaphysician could admit that Confucius is aphilosopher,for he says nothing about metaphysics and less about epistemology,he is as positivistic as Spencer or Comte;his concerns is always for morals and the state Worse than that,he is disreputably intelligible,and nothing could be so damaging to a philosopherBut we'moderns'have become so accustomed to windy verbiage in philosophy that when philosophy is presented without the verbiage we can,with difficulty,recognize it One must pay apenalty for having a prejudice against obscurityThe story tried to salt itself with a seasoning of humor,not only because of wisdom is not wise if it scares away merriment,but because a sense of humor being born of perspective bears anear kinship to philosophy,each is the soul of the other,But this appears to have displeased the pundits,nothing so hurt the book with them as it smiles A reputation for humor is disastrousto statesman and philosophers.Germany could not forgive Schopenhauer his story ofLluzelwann only France has recognized the depth behind the wit and brilliance of Voltaire.I trust that the book never misled its reader into supposing that by reading it they would become philosophers overnight,or that they would be savec the trouble,or pleasure.of reading thephilosophers themselves.God knows there is no shortcut to knowledge,after forty years of seeking her one finds Truth'still veiled and what she shows of herself most disconcertingInstead of aiming to be a substitute for philosophers.the story implicitly offered itself as an introduction and an invitation;it quoted the phitosophers lavishly.so that the taste for them mightlinger when the book was closed.time and again it prodded the readers to the oriqinal texts,and warning was given that one reading of them would hardly be enough.

The Chinese philosophers were not only averse to epistemology,they had an almost gallic disdain for prolonged metaphysics No young metaphysician could admit that Confucius is a

philosopher,for he says nothing about metaphysics and less about epistemology,he is as positivistic as Spencer or Comte;his concerns is always for morals and the state Worse than that,

he is disreputably intelligible,and nothing could be so damaging to a philosopher

But we'moderns'have become so accustomed to windy verbiage in philosophy that when philosophy is presented without the verbiage we can,with difficulty,recognize it One must pay a

penalty for having a prejudice against obscurity

The story tried to salt itself with a seasoning of humor,not only because of wisdom is not wise if it scares away merriment,but because a sense of humor being born of perspective bears a

near kinship to philosophy,each is the soul of the other,But this appears to have displeased the pundits,nothing so hurt the book with them as it smiles A reputation for humor is disastrous

to statesman and philosophers.Germany could not forgive Schopenhauer his story ofLluzelwann only France has recognized the depth behind the wit and brilliance of Voltaire.

I trust that the book never misled its reader into supposing that by reading it they would become philosophers overnight,or that they would be savec the trouble,or pleasure.of reading the

philosophers themselves.God knows there is no shortcut to knowledge,after forty years of seeking her one finds Truth'still veiled and what she shows of herself most disconcerting

Instead of aiming to be a substitute for philosophers.the story implicitly offered itself as an introduction and an invitation;it quoted the phitosophers lavishly.so that the taste for them might

linger when the book was closed.time and again it prodded the readers to the oriqinal texts,and warning was given that one reading of them would hardly be enough.