Friday, March 13, 2009

The measure of man

Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic, received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal at Independence Hall on July 4, 1994. Here's an excerpt of his remarks.

"We may know immeasurably more about the universe than our ancestors did, and yet it increasingly seems they knew something more essential about it than we do, something that escapes us.The same thing is true of the nature of ourselves. The more thoroughly all of our organs and their functions, their internal structure and the biochemical reactions that take place within them, are described, the more we seem to fail to grasp the spirit, the purpose, and meaning of the system that they create together and that we experience as our unique self."

Drawing by Benjamin Eiband.

1 comment:

Geo@Apoio said...

Boa noite! Gostei do seu blog,é muito interessante. Eu tb estou a fazer doutoramento e a minha tese é sobre os espaços públicos e os seus usos. Jan Gehl é um autor k me interessa, foi assim k encontrei o seu blog. Seria interessante trocarmos ideias. O meu e-mail é: luisacfab@gmail.com