Philosophy

In every system of morality, which I have hitherto met with, I have always remarked, that the author proceeds for some time in the ordinary way of reasoning, and establishes the being of a God, or makes observations concerning human affairs; when of a sudden I am surprised to find, that instead of the usual copulations of propositions, is, and is not, I meet with no proposition that is not connected with an ought, or an ought not.

We rely on factual information to guide our lives, but we can only retrieve this information by probing into our memory. Memory is tinged with loss of detail. I am sitting now on my porch writing while a runner passes in front of my eyes.

The Iliad opens with the anger of Achilles, unjustly stripped of the spoils of war by Agamemnon. He has come to wage war against people he holds no grudge against and for a cause that he does not hold in high regard (Book I 152-160, translation Richmond Lattimore):