From the birth of reason to Descartes' "I think, therefore I am"; Western culture has placed thought at the centre of what it is to be human. In our everyday lives, the same is true. We spend much of our time planning the future, reflecting on the past, puzzling about what to do, and talking about it with others. But might this be a mistake? "To think too much is a disease" argued Dostoyevsky. While existentialists made the case that thought obscures the essence of what it is to be a human being.
Should culture, as Nietzsche proposes, 'free itself from the seduction of words and thought'? Should we focus on experience, action and being, turn off our screens, explore the world and live a bit more? Or is this romantic nonsense, and thought not only makes us unique but allows us to make sense of the world and alone offers the means to overcome the profound challenges we face?