Personal vs social practical philosophies: do we change the world, or just cope with it?

[image: Cicero (left) and Simone de Beauvoir (right), practical philosophers]

Karl Marx famously wrote that:

“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” (Theses on Feuerbach 1845, 11)

Well, to be fair, the two goals are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, one could argue that interpreting the world is a…