General provisions

This course may run jointly with the course 5FT167 at advanced level. The course requirements are higher on students at advanced level than on C level students.

Entry requirements

60 credits in Practical Philosophy or Theoretical Philosophy

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the students:

• will have gained a better understanding of both ancient and contemporary approaches to philosophy as a way of life
• will be familiar with a large set of key texts in ancient philosophy and will have the ability to interpret these texts using the conceptual framework of philosophy as a way of life
• will have knowledge of the main positions in and key concepts of ancient ethical theories
• will have an understanding of how the insights and practices of ancient philosophers can be applied to the pursuit of well-being.

Content

The aim of this course is to examine the ancient conceptions of philosophy as a way of life. Like contemporary academic philosophers, the Ancient Greek philosophers were interested in metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical questions. However, unlike contemporary philosophers, the ancients assumed that inquiring into metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical questions constitutes a specific -- philosophical -- way of life. They moreover thought that choosing philosophy as a way of life is a precondition of genuine human wellbeing. Socrates and Plato thought that one cannot live an excellent life without philosophizing. For the Epicureans and the Skeptics, practicing philosophy was the only way to relieve human suffering and anxiety. For the Stoics, philosophy was the art of living.

By means of a close reading of the relevant texts, we will focus on the following questions: Why did the ancient philosophers think that philosophizing is conducive to human flourishing? What conceptions of happiness, human nature and good, belief and desire contribute to the idea of philosophy as a way of life? What is the relationship, for the ancient philosophers, between philosophical theory and practice? To what extent are the lessons from ancient philosophers applicable in the contemporary context?

Approaching ancient philosophy as a way of life has become increasingly popular within the scholarship of ancient philosophy. We will also critically examine how the notion of "philosophy as a way of life" has been construed by contemporary scholars (especially Pierre Hadot and John Cooper) and ask which of these notions of "philosophy as a way of life" can correctly be attributed to ancient philosophers. Does philosophy require, for ancient philosophers, performing philosophical exercises in order to transform one's self (as Hadot claims) or did the ancients understand the practice of philosophy exclusively in terms of rational search for truth (as is argued by Cooper)?

Instruction

Instruction is provided by means of lectures and seminars.

Assessment

Seminar participation and homework = 40% of the final grade

Essay = 60% of the final grade