I don’t see the point in searching for an arche. I like a good mystery. Perhaps something is wrong with me, but I think that the world is more exciting to live in because of all the things we don’t know. Anyway, I think it’s interesting how the philosophers of ancient Greece used logic to keep advancing ideas. For example, the idea of water was rejected because it could never create fire, therefore it could not be the origin of everything. Then air was chosen by Anaximenes, and he added the ideas of condensation and rarefaction to explain the different forms air takes (for example, solids are just condensed air). This way he could explain how one element could create everything in nature. As time goes on and more scientific understanding of the world is gained, philosophical ideas advance with the times. And then eventually, the philosophic ideas might morph into ideas whose questions and answers are definite enough that instead of being philosophy, they switch into being physical sciences. Is there a science today that didn't start as philosophy?

Pleasure or Paradise?

Which do people seek more, pleasure or paradise? First let me begin by properly defining the two. According to dictionary.com, pleasure is worldly or frivolous enjoyment; enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one's liking. A paradise is a state of supreme happiness; bliss. Now knowing these definitions, think about it; is what you truly seek worldly pleasures or absolute happiness?

I thought about this question while reading Voltaire’s famous satirical novella Candide. In this story, our protagonist Candide somehow ends up in El Dorado, a secluded utopia. Everything is perfect there, but he wants to leave. He is in love with a beautiful woman and would rather pursue her than live in paradise.
The story’s ending is not a happy one; he leaves paradise and finds his girl, but now she is old and ugly. They spend the rest of their dull days farming without pleasure and far away from paradise. Take it from the Most Interesting Man in the World: “I don’t always have the option. But when I do, I choose Paradise.”