Philosophia perennis

This essay aims at inquiring the genesis and nature of philosophy, through the exposition of three different readings of the problem. First of all, the interpretation of philosophy as thauma, wonder (Plato, Aristotle), then, as deinon, horror (Nietzsche), or trauma (Deleuze). Secondly, we ask what the goals of philosophical inquiry are. We identify two recurrent topics in the history of philosophy: freedom from ignorance and the uneasiness it implies, and the search for happiness.