On the Contrary

The externals of their lives could not have been more different. One was a celebrated wit and dramatist, the other a reclusive philosopher who, throughout his conscious life, lived and wrote in relative obscurity. Yet to varying extents, and with varying results, both thought of themselves as poets. Both, also in their way, concerned themselves with founding a philosophy grounded in the art of living, turning to antiquity (Ancient Greece) for their ideal, and considering contemporary France...