The present alone is our happiness : conversations with Jeannie Carlier and Arnold I. Davidson / Pierre Hadot ; translated by Marc Djaballah.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hadot, Pierre.

Contributor:

Djaballah, Marc, 1975-

Carlier, Jeannie.

Davidson, Arnold I. (Arnold Ira), 1955-

Series:

Cultural memory in the present

Standardized Title:

Philosophie comme manière de vivre. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Hadot, Pierre--Interviews.

Hadot, Pierre.

Philosophers--France--Interviews.

Philosophers.

France.

Philosophy, Ancient.

Philosophy--History.

Philosophy.

History.

Genre:

Interviews.

Physical Description:

xv, 191 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2009.

Summary:

One of the most influential historians of ancient philosophy in the world today, Hadot is adept at using ancient philosophers to illuminate the relevance of their ideas to contemporary life. In this book of discussions, which is an ideal introduction to Hadot's more scholarly What is Ancient Philosophy?, we learn that to be an Epicurean is not merely to think like one; it is to adopt a way of living where limiting desires is the condition for happiness. Being an Aristotelian, similarly, is to choose a life that involves contemplation, and being a Cynic is to follow Diogenes in his refusal of quotidian convention and the mentality of ordinary people. If so many Ancient philosophers founded schools, Hadot explains, it was precisely because they were proposing how to live life on a daily basis. We learn here that the history of philosophy has been something more than just that of a discourse. The founding texts of Greek philosophy, after all, were notes from oral exercises undertaken in concrete circumstances and contexts, most often a dialogue between students and specific interlocutors who meant to shed light on their students' real existence. The immense contribution of this book, which also traces Hadot's own personal itinerary in a touching manner, is to remind us, through direct language and numerous examples, what the theoretical aspect of philosophy often masks: its vital and existential dimensions.

Contents:

Tied to the apron strings of the church

Researcher, teacher, philosopher

Philosophical discourse

Interpretation, objectivity, and nonsense

Unitary experience and philosophical life

Philosophical discourse as spiritual exercise

Philosophy as life and as a quest for wisdom

From Socrates to Foucault : a long tradition

Unacceptable?

The present alone is our happiness.

Notes:

Originally published in French under the title La Philosophie comme manière de vivre.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [183]-191).

ISBN:

9780804748353

0804748357

9780804748360

0804748365

OCLC:

217262506