9781405161619

Philosophy as a Way of Life

This unique collection of essays on the late Pierre Hadot’s revolutionary methodological approach to studying and practicing philosophy explores Hadot’s primary conviction that philosophy itself goes beyond solving puzzles and analyzing abstract arguments. Hadot believed that philosophy is a key part of humanity’s search for happiness, that it can transform our perception of the world, and thus can alter our very mode of being. His argument that the goal of philosophy is to shift our focus away from our habitual obsession with individuality, and to embrace universality and objectivity, has resonated with thinkers across the Academy – and outside it.

Offering genuinely interdisciplinary analysis of Hadot’s work and philosophical practice, this volume includes papers written from a gamut of philosophical, historical, and geographical perspectives. Articles address issues in the history of philosophy from Pythagoras to Descartes, by way of Islamic thought, thus corresponding to Hadot’s view of the importance of philologically based analysis of ancient texts and historical contexts. Others study the presence of ideas related to, or influenced by, Hadot in contemporary thought, from Wittgenstein to Leonard Nelson, analytic philosophy, and French postmodernism. The result is a wide-ranging publication pointing to an additional “third way” alongside the traditional approaches of Continental and analytic philosophy, one that expands our horizons with secular spiritual exercises designed to enable us to be in a fuller, more authentic way.

Michael Chase is a Researcher at the Jean Pépin Centre of the National Centre of Scientific Research, Paris. A former student of Pierre Hadot himself, he has completed numerous translations of Hadot’s works, and has also published on Late Greek and Latin Neoplatonism, Patristics, and Islamic and Medieval thought.

Stephen R. L. Clark is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, UK. His books include Aristotle’s Man (1975), From Athens to Jerusalem (1984), Civil Peace and Sacred Order (1989), Biology and Christian Ethics (2000), Understanding Faith (2009) and Ancient Mediterranean Philosophy (2013).

Michael McGhee is Honorary Senior Fellow at the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool. He is the author of Transformations of Mind: Philosophy as Spiritual Practice (2000), as well as of a number of articles on moral philosophy, aesthetics and the philosophy of religion.

Notes on Contributors vii

Foreword by John H. Spencer xiii

1 Introduction 1
Michael Chase

2 Ancient Philosophers: A First Statistical Survey 10
Richard Goulet

(Color plate section is between page 32 and 33)

3 Philosophy as a Way of Life: As Textual and More Than Textual Practice 40
Richard Shusterman

4 Charismatic Authority, Spiritual Guidance, and Way of Life in the Pythagorean Tradition 57
Constantinos Macris

5 Alcibiades’ Love 84
Jan Zwicky

6 Stoics and Bodhisattvas: Spiritual Exercise and Faith in Two Philosophical Traditions 99
Matthew T. Kapstein

7 Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from the Buddha to Tagore 116
Jonardon Ganeri

8 Approaching Islamic Philosophical Texts: Reading Mull¯a S. adr¯a ??S¯??r¯az¯?? (d. 1635) with Pierre Hadot 132
Sajjad H. Rizvi

9 Philosophy and Self-improvement: Continuity and Change in Philosophy’s Self-conception from the Classical to the Early-modern Era 148
John Cottingham

10 Descartes’ Meditations: Practical Metaphysics: The Father of Rationalism in the Tradition of Spiritual Exercises 167
Theodor Kobusch

11 Leading a Philosophical Life in Dark Times: The Case of Leonard Nelson and His Followers 184
Fernando Leal

12 Philosophy as a Way of Life and Anti-philosophy 210
Gwena¨elle Aubry

13 Philosophy and Gestalt Psychotherapy 223
Paul O’Grady

14 Wittgenstein’s Temple: Or How Cool is Philosophy? 241
Michael McGhee

15 Observations on Pierre Hadot’s Conception of Philosophy as a Way of Life 262
Michael Chase

Bibliography 287

Index 311

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Philosophy as a Way of Life Ancients and Moderns - Essays in Honor of Pierre Hadot

Philosophy as a Way of Life Ancients and Moderns - Essays in Honor of Pierre Hadot

1405161612

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