Adrian Rufo P.

Naragas 2nd year – Buwan Class

Ancient Philosophy Rev. Fr. Jenor Luis

Ancient Fruitful Error

“The History of thought is full of barren truths and fruitful errors.” – Arthur Koestler.

This statement was written—not exclusively—in the pre-socratic philosophy of Thales. It stated

that Thales’ theory as an example of a fruitful error in the history.

The world’s history is very remarkable. It may be on the realm of education, science,

philosophy, etc… Whatever history it belongs to, it sure has bad and good memory in it. We

remember those history because it is important in our lives. For example, in our history class, our

teacher always teach world war before. Even if it is old and may seem improbable to happen

again today, they still continue to teach us not just for gossip’s sake but because they want us to

appreciate the history we have made. We may not change the fact of what happened before, but

we can create a future by looking down in our past.

Some time in my life, I ask my father once “Why do historians also write bad history?

Why not write only good things in the history?” It may sound irrelevant but really I did ask my

father this once and he said “Good History gives inspiration and bad history gives lesson to us”.

Which is true and that was the most relevant answer to my irrelevant question. For example in

Thales’ theory, we know that his speculation about water to be the fundamental stuff underlies

everything we find in the world was naïve and improbable. But, history still writes them even if

it was rejected by his contemporary because history wants us to find lesson in the fruitful error

they have made. The errors in the past can somehow guide us in the mere future or perhaps in the

present not to make the same mistake again.

 In my life, I also have “Ancient Fruitful errors” which I remember most. I consider them

my lessons and my guide on my path of growing up in this world. Even if some were bad and

traumatic, I still treasure them. Because of the errors in my past, I became what I am right now.

It helped me achieve goals in my life and face many situations. I can now decide on things that

are hard for me to handle. I did not regret on all the errors that occurred on me before. Instead, I

am thankful for all of it because it made me a better man right now

I realized that forgetting the past may hinder us from growing up. Right now, I am doing

my best not to forget all the errors I have made. And perhaps make my errors and achievements

an inspiration to keep forward in achieving my goals in the mere future.