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Peter Saint-Andre's avatar

As to wondering, I've always liked this quote from Ayn Rand: "The most selfish of all things is the independent mind that recognizes no authority higher than its own and no value higher than its judgment of truth." But Thoreau, Socrates, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Walter Kaufmann, and several other writers and thinkers have inspired me to wonder about human potential, too...

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Matt Boulton's avatar

You're right that Independence Day is not just about a nation's independence from other nations, but about being a nation founded upon the idea that the individuals within are independent. Living in culturally collectivist Korea, I appreciate America's exceptionalism even more.

And then it is up to each of us to be a practical philosopher and live it like only we see it.

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