A Brief History of Thought: A Philosophical Guide to Living (Learning to Live)

by Luc Ferry

For if nature as a whole is harmonious, then it can serve as a model for human conduct, and the order of things must be just and good, as Marcus Aurelius insists in his Meditations: ‘All that comes to pass comes to pass with justice.’ You will find this to be so if you watch carefully. I do not mean only in accordance with the ordered nature of events, but in accordance with justice and as it were by someone who assigns to each thing its value. (IV.10) What Marcus Aurelius suggests amounts to the idea that nature – when it functions normally and aside from the occasional accidents and catastrophes that occur – renders justice finally to each of us. It supplies to each of us our essential needs as individuals: a body which enables us to move about the world, an intelligence which permits us to adapt to the world, and natural resources which enable us to survive in the world. So that, in this great cosmic sharing out of goods, each receives his due.