The selected writings of Pierre Hadot : philosophy as practice

by Pierre Hadot

Other authorsMatthew Sharpe (Translator), Federico Testa (Translator)
Ebook, 2020

Status

Available

Call number

194

Collection

Publication

London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2020.

Description

This collection of writings from Pierre Hadot (1992-2010) presents, for the first time, previously unreleased and in some cases untranslated materials from one of the world's most prominent classical philosophers and historians of thought. As a passionate proponent of philosophy as a 'way of life' (most powerfully communicated in the life of Socrates), Pierre Hadot rejuvenated interest in the ancient philosophers and developed a philosophy based on their work which is peculiarly contemporary. His radical recasting of philosophy in the West was both provocative and substantial. Indeed, Michel Foucault cites Pierre Hadot as a major influence on his work. This beautifully written, lucid collection of writings will not only be of interest to historians, classicists and philosophers but also those interested in nourishing, as Pierre Hadot himself might have put it, a 'spiritual life'.… (more)

Media reviews

This book translates fourteen essays by Pierre Hadot, born a century ago on the day this review is published (February 21, 2022), that have not previously been published in English; ten have already been collected in Études de philosophie ancienne (2010), and three in the most recent edition of
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Exercices Spirituels et Philosophie Antique (1993). Most of these essays, of diverse length and explanatory purpose though with remarkably similar tenor, formulate aspects of the thesis most popularly known in English from What is Ancient Philosophy? (2002, BMCR 2002.09.21; French original in 1995). That view is that ancient philosophy overall, from at least Plato till late antiquity, should be understood as a “way of life,” with the various schools of philosophy prescribing overlapping ways of life. In these programs of living, “spiritual exercises” modify one’s desiderative, perceptual, and cognitive responses to the world and oneself, with the aim of increasing one’s happiness. The contrast is with seeing ancient philosophy principally as an endeavor to accumulate and systematize certain fundamental areas of knowledge.
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Language

Original language

French

Pages

320

ISBN

1474272975 / 9781474272971
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