Review
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This is a stimulating book. Thinking comparatively
about what philosophy was and is will surely enrich the
field.--R. Kamtekar"Choice" (01/01/2003)
Hadot's account moves gracefully from the beginning of philosophy
among the Greeks, though its transformation under the Romans, and
the encounter with Christianity, also touching on the relation
between Eastern and Western philosophy. Profound learning
stylishly worn makes the whole book, and the whole sweep of
philosophy's first 1,000 years, accessible to any reader
interested in what philosophy was like before it was taken over
by the professors.--Barry Allen"Globe & Mail" (07/27/2002)
First published in France in 1995, Hadot's overview of ancient
philosophy...is quite possibly one of the best one-volume works
on the subject to have appeared in English in a very long time,
not only for the clarity with which it is written...but also for
the point of view Hadot takes. In keeping with Socrates' dictum
that the unexamined life is not worth living, Hadot places each
philosopher or movement discussed firmly within its cultural and
intellectual context and shows that philosophy was not simply a
process for creating theories but, more importantly, a way of
life for many.--Terry Skeats"Library Journal" (04/01/2002)
Pierre Hadot is determined to change our view of ancient
philosophy, and by extension, of philosophy as a discipline...
Like Hadot's hero Socrates, What is Ancient Philosphy? is a
triumph of irony: a meticulous historical survey that ends by
inspiring the reader to actually do philosophy. Handsomely
designed, with useful bibliography and chronology, it's a compact
text for the 'never-ending quest.'--Thomas D'Evelyn"Christian
Science Monitor" (08/08/2002)
In its sweep and clarity of presentation, I would compare this
book with some of the great syntheses of an earlier
generation--for instance, Werner Jaeger's Paideia. At the center
of the study is the strikingly original notion of the spiritual
exercise, which Professor Hadot here and elsewhere shows to lie
at the heart of Greek Hellenistic thinking about man, morality,
and the universe.--Brian Stock, University of Toronto
Hadot's What Is Ancient Philosophy? is a wonderful book. It
strives to persuade us to revise our view of philosophy--to think
of philosophy, as the ancients did, as crucially involving a
philosophical way of life.--Michael Frede, Oxford University
This book is a masterpiece of erudition and in--it combines
Pierre Hadot's extraordinary textual knowledge, his profound and
original philosophical vision, and his famously lucid prose to
give us a new way of approaching ancient philosophy. Beyond this,
it proposes a conception of the tasks of philosophy that will be
of abiding interest to philosophers and nonphilosophers
alike.--Arnold Davidson, University of Chicago
Pierre Hadot deserves to be better known to English-language
readers--and not just because he was a favorite of Michel
Foucault's and is the man largely responsible for introducing
Wittgenstein to the French. Hadot is a historian of ancient
philosophy, a professor emeritus at the prestigious Collège de
France. But it is more accurate to say that he is a philosopher
who makes use of the ancients for his own ideas... In What is
Ancient Philosophy? Hadot brings all his concerns together in a
small volume of extraordinary erudition and surprising...clarity
of prose... It is the summa of a distinguished career.--Barry
Gewen"New York Times Book Review" (08/18/2002)
Synopsis
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A magisterial pa mundi of the terrain that Pierre
Hadot has so productively worked for decades, this ambitious book
revises our view of ancient philosophy - and in doing so,
proposes that we change the way we see philosophy itself. Hadot
takes ancient philosophy out of its customary realm of names,
dates, and arid abstractions and s it squarely in the thick
of life. Through a meticulous historical reading, he shows how
the various schools, trends, and ideas of ancient Greek and Roman
philosophy all tended toward one goal: to provide a means for
achieving happiness in this life, by transforming the
individual's mode of perceiving and being in the world.