Reflections upon Reading Pierre Hadot

Philosophy as a Way of Life by Pierre Hadot has been the most thought provoking book I’ve read in a very long time, and has caused me to re-examine my approach to philosophy/theology and the writings of antiquity in general. The basic thesis of the book is that philosophy – properly speaking – is not solely an intellectual exercise or system of abstract arguments, but rather of way of living and perceiving reality that is elevated and separate from the ways of the world. What exactly this means in every tradition does differ, but the focus on right living with the intentions of self-perfection and realization runs through every philosophical school in the ancient world.

The philosophical act is not situated merely on the cognitive level, but on that of the self and of being. … It raises the individual from an inauthentic condition of life, darkened by unconsciousness and harassed by worry, to an authentic state of life, in which he attains self-consciousness, an exact vision of the world, inner peace, and freedom. (p. 83).

I will not go through his argumentation, but Hadot devotes a good amount of time to the major ancient philosophical schools (which includes Christianity) to demonstrate how they attempted to achieve this goal.

Since I’ve finished this book I’ve acutely felt the insignificance of my own education and what I’ve previously passed off as “doing philosophy.” It didn’t take me long to realize that my first conscious attempt at philosophy, which mainly consisted of blindly memorizing arguments for the sake of debate, was more of an exercise in self-indulgence than anything else.

A more credible way to view philosophy is to treat it simply as a search for objective truth, but this too I have come to regard as insufficient. Taken to its extreme, this can be likened to a scientific worldview which presupposes certain axioms from which syllogisms and built from. In such a system, every true statement can be proven by means of logical formulations that proceed seamlessly from first principles. Philosophy then becomes a chain of argument which can be objectively proven to any impartial seeker. This way of thinking slowly came crashing down when I actually tried to put it into practice. Through the course of many protracted conversations I realized that things were not as simple as I had imagined, and that it’s near impossible to convince anybody of first principles. I think that the fundamental way we view reality cannot be based on anything other than faith, which we have out of the desire for things to make sense. An argument can always be reduced to its principle parts, and if these are disputed then you can go no further. Fundamental axioms cannot be proven, but this does not make them any less true.

If not a disinterested search for truth, then how else do we define philosophy? Hadot argues that it is principally a heightened way of living in accordance with truth (Logos, reason, God). This can include the more academic notion of doing philosophy – as there is no lack of logic and argument in any work of ancient philosophy – but this is not the ultimate goal of the philosophical life. The point here is that logic and argument exist for the purpose of spiritual development, Hadot would classify it as a spiritual exercise that purifies us and makes us more aware of reality.

The realization of this is why I have begun to feel the insignificance of my previous study, but not in a negative or dismissive way, but because I have become aware of the depth and beauty of philosophy that I had been mostly ignorant of. The realm of academic philosophy has begun to feel like a cheap imitation of the real thing, as it is a mere learning about philosophy as opposed to its actual practice. Meditating upon subjects like death, the beauty of nature, or the fate of the soul with friends in the spirit of discovery instead of classroom posturing is a far more authentic practice than what is done in universities.

I’ve been starting think that the point of philosophy is not to become correct, but to aspire to the attainment of beauty itself; this is a much longer and difficult goal. To love wisdom and reflect upon truth and being is not a simple matter of knowing the correct answers from only the philosophers that you deem “got it right,” but it is a purification of the soul that occurs when one strives to live in accordance with the Logos. To reflect upon truth and beauty is a discursive exercise, a circular motion without a real beginning or end. This is why the philosophical works of antiquity can seem so strange to us, instead of a linear progression from one point to another, they are discursive in structure and continually circle back to their main themes, the point is to lead the soul in a spiritual exercise. This is why dialogue, both with others and oneself is so central to the philosophical tradition.

Perhaps most importantly, I’ve become more aware that the times in which I was most confident that I had everything right were really the times when I was in the greatest darkness, and I think any book that makes this clear is one that is worth the time and effort.