IT'S ALL ABOUT UNICORNS

  Illustration: Anne Geßner  As I was walking through the streets of a German city, I suddenly noticed a surprising scene: a woman in her forties was lying on the ground next to the entrance to an underground station. What caught my attention was that nobody bothered to help her. No one dared to look at her, it seemed as if everyone was in a hurry. Suddenly I heard voices whispering: "I am sure she is an alcoholic. I think she is a drug addict. If she is so, it's because she deserves it." Those who went for a walk or shopping tried to ignore her by looking at their mobile phones or the shop windows. The people who passed her gave themselves excuses to avoid feeling guilty. After seeing people ignore her and leave her to her fate, I understood Rousseau's words very well. I wondered when society and its citizens had forgotten that first instinct that had brought them to the highest point of evolution. Instead of listening to his natural inclination to help his fellow hu...

Illustration: Anne Geßner     According to Rousseau, the human being is good, naive and close to nature. His universally developed body allows him a high degree of adaptability. Surely, human sensorial performance is not as highly specialized in habitats as it is the case with other animal species. However, it can cope with its environment and can therefore satisfy its basic needs. As soon as hunger and thirst have been satisfied, he rests. The human being is satisfied with it, without desire and free.  Rousseau's view of humanity is partly in contrast to the current conception of the human being, which says that humans, due to their cultural heritage and level of intelligence, are a special kind of animal that stands its ground against nature. He sees himself as the crowning glory of creation and at the same time separated from it. In this case, nature is seen as a reservoir of his desires. Of course, according to Rousseau, people do not have a perfect life in paradise. ...

Illustration: Anne Geßner  What is in our control?  Power is not only an expression of aggression or evil, but also of law, power and authority. According to Epictetus there are two types of power. The inner and outer form. The first means an ability of the human being to shape his life independently of other factors. This ability could today be called the own will. In contrast, external power is everything exoteric, i.e. things that people cannot control through their will. People can suppress their instincts, positively influence their opinions and attitudes. These human actions, as the German word "Handlung" indicates, show us that they are in our hands or in our power. However, other human products or developments are not in our power, such as a house, a reputation or even our own body. For example, the house is expropriated by the state, the doctor completely loses his reputation due to a mistake during surgery and a virus makes the person sick. All these events occur ou...