Pierre Hadot

Pierre Hadot
Born February 21, 1922
Reims, France
Died April 24, 2010
Orsay, France
Era Contemporary philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School Continental philosophy
Philosophy of life[1]
Main interests
History of ancient Greek philosophy, history of Neoplatonism
Notable ideas
The conception of ancient Greek philosophy as a bios (βίος) or way of life (manière de vivre)[2]

Pierre Hadot (French: [ado]; February 21, 1922 April 24, 2010) was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy specializing in ancient philosophy, particularly Neoplatonism.

Life

In 1944, Hadot was ordained, but following Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Humani generis (1950) left the priesthood. He studied at the Sorbonne between 1946–1947.[3] In 1961, he graduated from the École Pratique des Hautes Études,[3] where he would become the Director of Studies from 1964 to 1986. He was eventually named professor at the Collège de France in 1982, where he held the Chair of History in Hellenistic and Roman Thought (chaire d'histoire de la pensée hellénistique et romaine). In 1991, he retired from this position to become professeur honoraire at the Collège; his last lecture was on May 22 of the same year. He concluded the class saying, "In the last analysis, we can scarcely talk about what is most important."[5]

He was married to the historian of philosophy, Ilsetraut Hadot.

Thought

Hadot was one of the first authors to introduce Ludwig Wittgenstein's thought into France. Hadot suggested that one cannot separate the form of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations from their content.[6] Wittgenstein had claimed that philosophy was an illness of language and Hadot notes that the cure required a particular type of literary genre.[6]

Hadot is also famous for his analysis on the conception of philosophy during Greco-Roman antiquity. Hadot identified and analyzed the "spiritual exercises" used in ancient philosophy (influencing Michel Foucault’s interest in such practices in the second and third volumes of his History of Sexuality). By "spiritual exercises" Hadot means "practices ... intended to effect a modification and a transformation in the subjects who practice them.[7] The philosophy teacher's discourse could be presented in such a way that the disciple, as auditor, reader, or interlocutor, could make spiritual progress and transform himself within."[8] Hadot shows that the key to understanding the original philosophical impulse is to be found in Socrates. What characterizes Socratic therapy above all is the importance given to living contact between human beings.

Hadot's recurring theme is that philosophy in Antiquity was characterized by a series of spiritual exercises intended to transform the perception, and therefore the being, of those who practice it; that philosophy is best pursued in real conversation and not through written texts and lectures; and that philosophy, as it is taught in universities today, is for the most part a distortion of its original, therapeutic impulse. He brings these concerns together in What Is Ancient Philosophy?,[8] which has been critically reviewed.[9]

Bibliography

(Greek translations are not included in this list).

Notes

  1. John M. Cooper, Pursuits of Wisdom: Six Ways of Life in Ancient Philosophy from Socrates to Plotinus, Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 18.
  2. Pierre Hadot (1922-2010) by Matthew Sharpe in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  3. 1 2 3 Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, trans. Michael Chase. Blackwell Publishing, 1995.
    Postscript: An Interview with Pierre Hadot, p. 278.
  4. 1 2 Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, trans. Michael Chase. Blackwell Publishing, 1995.
    Postscript: An Interview with Pierre Hadot, p. 277.
  5. Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, trans. Michael Chase. Blackwell Publishing, 1995.
    Postscript: An Interview with Pierre Hadot, p. 284.
  6. 1 2 Davidson, A.I. (1995), Pierre Hadot and the Spiritual Phenomenon of Ancient Philosophy, in Philosophy as a Way of Life, Hadot, P., Oxford Blackwells pp17-18
  7. Hadot, P. (1995), Philosophy as a Way of Life, Oxford, Blackwell.
  8. 1 2 Hadot, Pierre (2002). What Is Ancient Philosophy?. Harvard University Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-674-00733-6.
  9. Zeyl, Donald (June 9, 2003). "What is Ancient Philosophy?". Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. Retrieved 2015-09-24.

References

External links

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