When are the happiest ages in life?
Published: 23 May. 2024, 19:53
The author is an emeritus professor of history at Konkuk University.
As I get older without accomplishing much, I sometimes wonder, “What have I been doing all this time?” Looking back, I have lived in a hurry during a turbulent period and haven’t had the leisure time to look around. I think the golden period of my life was between the ages 55 and 75.
Perhaps the person who agonized over the crises of life the most desperately and left lessons for the future generation would be French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650). He was born into a French aristocratic family of judges. The family were devout Catholics. His mother died shortly after giving birth, and his father was not fond of his son, a precocious prodigy. Descartes eventually left the family and was raised by his grandmother.
One day, Descartes won money, posted by a wealthy Dutchman for solving a mathematical problem. He moved to the Netherlands and lived there for a long time. The naturally gifted mind boasted that there wasn’t a geometric problem he could not solve.
He emerged as a star philosopher with the proposition, “Cogito, ergo sum,” in the “Discourse on the Method” published in 1637. As he became famous, Queen Christina of Sweden invited him as a tutor in 1649. He was accustomed to staying up late, but the queen was a morning person who liked to start class at 5 a.m. Descartes struggled.
The winter of 1649 was exceptionally cold. One day, Descartes was visiting the palace in the early morning and got pneumonia. He died in Stockholm in February 1650. He must have predicted his death and wrote at the end of “Discourse on the Method” that he would conserve the remaining days of his life. If one is not poor, is healthy and has good children, the age of 83 is said to be the happiest time in life. I hope everyone will conserve their lives and live long. I regret reading the “Discourse on the Method” too late.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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