Alternative English 2nd year

 

ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH:

CHAPTER- ON NOT BEING A PHILOSOPHER

1.       WHERE WAS ROBERT LYND BORN?

ANS- Robert Lynd was born in Belfast.

2.       WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE AMERICAN POET-PHILOSOPHER WHOSE WORK THE AUTHOR HAS READ? (2017)

ANS- The name of the American poet philosopher whose work the author has read is Emerson

3.       WHOM DOES THE AUTHOR WANT TO CONDUCT THE LABORIOUS QUEST FOR WISDOM? (2017)

ANS- The author wants the philosophers to conduct the laborious quest for wisdom.

4.       WHO WAS ZEUS? (2017,2019)

ANS- ZEUS was the king of the Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses. He symbolizes power and order.

5.       WHY THE AUTHOR OF ‘ON NOT BEING A PHILOSOPHER’ WAS FEARFULLY EXCITED? (2019)

ANS-  The author of ‘ On Not Being A Philosopher’ was fearfully excited because he could read the king of the philosopher he liked. He also thought that he would soon become wiser like king Solomon after reading the book of Epictetus.

6.       Who was Socrates and what did he promote? (2018)

ANS- Socrates was a Greek philosopher. He influenced the thinking of the whole society for centuries. He promoted love and inquiry which would lead to knowledge and justice.

7.       WHO WAS EPICTETUS? (2019)

ANS- Epictetus was a Greek stoic philosopher of the first and second century A.D. who was originally a slave. Though he wrote no treatise himself, his discourses were compiled by a pupil and these are to be found in Enchiridion.

8.       IN SPITE OF NOT BEING ANY WISER, DOES LYND LOSE FAITH IN BOOKS? WHAT DOES HE STILL BELIEVE? (2016)

ANS- No, in spite of not being any wiser, Lynd doesn’t lose faith in books. Rather he liked reading more and more books, in search of wisdom. He believes that, in books, there are some kind of wise presence that would enrich the reader with philosophical depth and the strength of character. And all this can be gained by the reader while relaxing in an armchair and smoking.

 

 

9.       DISCUSS THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LEAD TO LYND’S READING EPICTETUS. (2019)

ANS- Lynd overheard one person asking the other whether he had read ‘Epictetus’ lately. Amusingly, Lynd was looking that would make him wise instantly. He realized that he had some of the best books of some great philosopher on his book shelves. He also realized that browsing materials were as diverse as those of Emerson and Marcus Aurelius had not achieved the desired result of making him wise overnight, hence Lynd thought of turning to Epictetus for wisdom.

10.   ON WHAT POINT DOES HE FIND HIMSELF AGREEING WITH EPICTETUS? (2018)

ANS- While Lynd was going through Epictetus, he was agreeing with nearly everything he said. He found a very close resemblance between the opinion of Epictetus and himself. He learned to be indifferent to death, pain and poverty; which are eminently desirable. Also, one should not be troubled about anything over which one has no control, or peril of earthquake. They both hold almost similar kind of thinking except for Lynd felt death, paid and poverty are the real evils when he is in as arm chair and reading a book by a philosopher.

11.   WHY DOES THE AUTHOR END WITH THE PHRASE ‘ IT WAS ONLY A DREAM’? (2017)

ANS- The author as had a concept in his head that he could obtain wisdom by reading  book and read many books but could not find it and also he did not change too. And so in hope to be wise overnight he read the book of ‘Epictetus’. He also agrees to most of the thing he read. But on Earth, we cannot agree to everything the philosopher say, it is almost impossible. Socrates and Epictetus were right in their indifference to external things, yet most of us would not accept if someone welcomes such philosophy into practice, even though we call them wisdom. Lynd says gaining wisdom by merely listening to or reading is one of the exciting of dreams, but by reading Epictetus only he realized that his dream remained a dream. Hence, bringing such philosophy into practice was only a dream’.