Philosophy, at its core, is all about tackling the big questions. The meaning of life, the nature of being, good and evil… philosophy has wrestled with these problems for centuries. As our inquiries reach their crescendo, as our investigations are about to come to a head, we often find that the best response is to remain silent. Writes Mauricio Suarez.

“I ask: "Why should this essence exist? What results from the fact that it is and will be?" ... Philosophy not merely fails to answer, but all it does itself is to repeat the same question. And if it is genuine philosophy then the totality of its labour lies in the attempt to put this question clearly.” (Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Confessions, Part V).

“And we may not advance any kind of theory. There must be nothing hypothetical in our considerations. We must do away with all explanation, and description alone must take its place”. (Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, §109)

A long, distinguished, and very rich philosophical tradition (more precisely: a rich collection of ethical, juridical, philosophical and religious traditions and movements across diverse cultures through history), suggests that the answers to the deepest questions are beyond human reach. These are metaphysical questions regarding the meaning of life, the essence of being, and the nature of things. The human predicament lies precisely in our capacity to formulate inquiring and unsettling questions of this type that can receive no answers. For we are then left in a position where mental balance and peace can only come from an acknowledgement that such questions must go unanswered. At the point of the grandest ambition, where stakes are highest, our inquiries can only go quiet, and we must stay resolutely silent.