The aim of this paper is to present metaphilosophical issues in Boethius’s De consolatione. His work takes up and continues the discussion of some ways of understanding philosophy and dimensions of philosophy, the sources of which are in the ancient tradition. In this paper I am going to point out that for Boethius philosophy is an art and a way of life. Having made this assumption, two other aspects of philosophy can be considered – the “tragic” and the “therapeutic” ones. While philosophical therapy has been frequently discussed by scholars as a dimension of Boethius’s “love of wisdom”, the “tragic” and “the way of life” aspects have not been rightly appreciated in their unity. The close relationship of these ways of understanding philosophy is evidenced by the fact, that their presentation in Boethius’s work takes the form of the sequence of events. At first we can see philosophy as a way of life, next there is a tragic end, and finally we can see philosophical therapy as a reaction to the tragedy. This paper aims at resolving the problem of philosophical ethos which combines the multidimensional approach to philosophy and makes the drama of “the way of life” so closely linked to the need of consolation.
In a world described or experienced as unfair, what can philosophical practitioners propose in order to help individuals and communities strive for a meaningful life? One answer, empirically informed by the author’s practice as philosophical counselor in therapeutic, self-care and organizational contexts, is five principles for the cultivation of philosophical health, namely mental heroism, deep orientation, critical creativity, deep listening, and the “Creal” (the creative Real as ultimate possibility). In the light of Hadot’s rediscovery of philosophy as a way of life and in dialogue with his reading of ancient philosophy, it is asserted that the embodied and socially embedded mind can, through these five principles or modalities, be prepared to maintain a pragmatic elevation of view and creative resilience in everyday events, especially in critical situations. This meta-analytic and meta-dialectic practice of philosophical health, termed “crealectics,” presupposes that we are of the same creative cosmological flesh (the Creal), and therefore we are bound to comprehend and care for each other philosophically.
This paper provides an explanatory rationale within a theoretical philosophical framework for the Philosophy Plays project as a call to public philosophy, conceived as a way of life and a form of communal therapy for the mind. The Philosophy Plays aim is to introduce philosophy to the general public through philosophical presentations by professional philosophers incorporating drama. Like Plato’s dialogues, the Philosophy Plays, that combine dialectic (the philosophical talk) with rhetoric (the drama) seek to engage their public audiences in a realistic and shared lived experience, rendering philosophy a practical and meaningful applied activity for all participants, conceived as a way of life.
In this essay, I defend philosophical wandering not only as an approach to doing philosophy, but also as an important force to incite critical reflection in cultural life. I argue that philosophical wanderers have an embodied, errant praxis, supporting wisdom whenever they engage with others. For these philosophers reflection is not given in a series of systematic assertions, nor through phenomenological description, nor analytic dissection. Rather, reflective life is the force that enhances the performative element of philosophy as an exercise in being obnoxious (as a Socratic gadfly) to bring people within a culture to particular kinds of critical awareness and action. I conclude by suggesting that this mode of philosophy has a correlate mode of truth, “incited reflectivism,” different from coherentism, foundationalism, warranted assertibility, and other theories that have been previously defended as the standard for “truth.”
Why awaken the soul to justice if the only result can be to increase awareness of the futility of aspiring to justice in the world? Zwicky documents challenges to the belief that teaching philosophy will result in a fairer polity and suggests that perception of being’s integrity sustains pursuit of philosophy as a way of life
This paper takes up Hadot’s call for more comparative work on Buddhism and Philosophy as a Way of Life by comparing Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku’s artwork Pilgrims with the graffiti artist Banksy’s The Street is in Play. Beyond the striking similarities in form and apparent tongue-in-cheek criticism of graffiti, this paper explains the context of Hakuin’s artwork and the text of his painting before exploring the importance of graffiti in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. I argue that by taking up Hadot’s call for more comparative work we find that Hakuin’s Zen bears fruitful points of comparison with Hadot’s account of philosophy as a way of life. Furthermore, a comparison of the two artworks of Banksy and Hakuin helps us better understand both figures via thematic elements of humor and socially disruptive writings.
Celem niniejszego artykułu jest ukazanie kondycji i kryzysu ludzkiej tożsamości w wyniku przemian, jakie dokonały się najpierw w epoce hellenistycznej, a na-stępnie w ponowoczesności. Przedmiotem analizy jest również – obecna w obu okresach – odpowiedź filozofii na ten kryzys. W tych bowiem szczególnych mo-mentach to właśnie filozofia ujawniła swe ludzkie – egzystencjalne oblicze: w czasach antycznych jako sztuka życia, a współcześnie jako jej kontynuacja, to zna-czy jako coaching i doradztwo filozoficzne.
EN
The aim of my paper is to show the condition and the crisis of human identity as a result of changes, which take place, first in the Hellenistic era, and next in the postmodernism. The theme of analysis is existing in both periods the answer of the philosophy on that situation. In this special moment it just philosophy revealed its existential and close to human being visage: in the ancient times it was the philos-ophy as a way of life, and today as its continuation, as a coaching and philosophi-cal counseling.
RU
Цель этой статьи - показать состояние и кризис человеческой идентичности в результате изменений, которые произошли сначала в эпоху эллинизма, а затем в постмодерн. Предмет анализа также - присутствующий в обоих пе-риодах - реакция философии на этот кризис. В эти особые моменты именно философия раскрыла свое человеческое экзистенциальное лицо: в древние времена как искусство жизни, а сегодня как его продолжение, т. Е. Как ко-учинг и философское консультирование.
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