Nothing is more important than the formation of fictional concepts which teach us at last to understand our own.

—Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value

The fate of having a self—of being human—is one in which the self is always to be found, fated to be sought, or not; recognized or not . . . this is a continuous activity, not something we may think of as an intellectual preoccupation. It is placing ourselves in the world. That you do not know beforehand what you will find is the reason the quest is an experiment or exploration.

—Stanley Cavell, Senses of Walden