Seneca On the Shortness of Life

In this concise essay, Seneca argues that the shortness of life is what gives it meaning. We have something to do, and a time frame within which to do it. For Seneca, the study of philosophy is the only worthwhile activity. He contrasts philosophy with fame and fortune. And there is a basic difference between philosophy and those two. They are not, to use Aristotle's terminology in Nicomachean Ethics, "good in themselves," but "goods as a means to other goods." One might argue that philosophy can lead to fame (though seldom fortune). But then it would not be philosophy, but something else entirely. For myself, as much as I love philosophy, I'm willing to expand the possibilities for worthwhile activities beyond its purview, though the possibility exists that anything that is actually an end in itself is a philosophy of some sort.