Pierre Hadot, The Selected Writings of Pierre Hadot: Philosophy as Practice. London: Bloomsbury, 2020. Pp. 320.
Foucault Studies December 12, 2021 DOI: 10.22439/fs.vi31.6469 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
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| Key findings | The review presents Hadot's argument that ancient philosophy was a way of life centered on non-discursive exercises—teaching, meditation, and lifestyle—rather than the construction of abstract systems. It describes the reviewed volume as compiling 14 previously untranslated texts into five parts, serving as both an introduction to Hadot and a response to his growing reception in English-speaking scholarship. |
Abstract
What do philosophers do?For the French philosopher and historian Pierre Hadot , philosophy is an exercise.Philosophers exercise themselves.They exercise for the transformation of their souls in pursuit of beatitude, wisdom, and peace.Hadot developed this understanding through a comprehensive approach to ancient philosophy that pays attention to the philosophical practices of authors like Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus, attending not only to their treatises on philosophy but also to their other activities.Teaching, meditation, and lifestyle take on an essential role in their practice of philosophy.As this new publication shows, it is by shifting the emphasis from thinking as the construction of systematic or abstract knowledge to non-discursive philosophical exercises that Hadot was able to produce the image of philosophy as a way of life."The Selected Writings of Pierre Hadot: Philosophy as Practice, translated by Matthew Sharpe and Federico Testa, compiles 14 texts that had never-before been translated into English.This publication serves both as an introduction to Hadot s work as well as a valuable complement to those already acquainted with it.It is intended as a response to the everwidening reception of his work in the anglosphere; the rise of scholarly attention to his work, principally for its influence on the philosopher and public intellectual Michel Foucault, and, as Matthew Sharpe points out in his introduction to the volume, also for its criticisms from analytic" philosophers and scholars.Moreover, Hadot s engagement with ancient philosophy resonates with the resurgence of public interest in Stoicism and personal development.It is with those conversations in mind that the translators selected the texts for the volume.The 14 chapters are split into 5 parts that progress from the introduction and exposition of Hadot s framework and key concepts to more particular engagements with specific notions and debates.This development, which does not follow the chronological order of the original publications, has the pedagogical benefit of progressively leading the reader into Hadot s thought while guiding readers with more specific interests.After having presented each part, I will reflect on the current challenges that Hadot raises for contemporary philosophical and theoretical issues for critical engagement in ways of life."