Artists and philosophers not only show us what we have felt, they also present our experiences more poignantly and intelligiently than we have been able to: they give shape to aspects of our lives that we identify as our own yet could never have understood so clearly on our own. The greatest works speak to us without knowing of us.
"The Sorrows of Young Werther" is an example of this. It is a book which even Napoleon used to read on his campaigns. It tells of how the apparently kind and yet infinitely cruel manner with which the person who does not love deals with the one who does. And falling out of love "grants" one the license to hurt.
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