Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Herodotus, David Marshall and Pierre Hadot

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     specify just one area for these philosophers

---

5 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 6. Hopes for Philosophy

9198	It is no longer possible to be a sage, but we can practice the exercise of wisdom [Hadot]
	Full Idea: Personally I firmly believe, perhaps naively, that it is possible for modern man to live, not as a sage (sophos) - most of the ancients did not hold this to be possible - but as a practitioner of the ever-fragile exercise of wisdom.
	From: Pierre Hadot (Philosophy as a way of life [1987], 7)
	A reaction: It seems to me quite plausible that the philosophical life might yet become a widespread ideal, even though philosophers seem to still be sheltering from storms two thousand years after Plato gave us that image.

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 2. Logos

9197	The logos represents a demand for universal rationality [Hadot]
	Full Idea: The logos represents a demand for universal rationality.
	From: Pierre Hadot (Philosophy as a way of life [1987], 3.3)
	A reaction: That is at one end of the spectrum. At the other, in parts of 'Theaetetus', it is just a polite request to be given a few reasons, instead of a splattering of hopes and prejudices.

15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / a. Consciousness

6668	If the present does not exist, then consciousness must be memory of the immediate past [Marshall]
	Full Idea: Given the paradoxical nature of the 'present' moment, maybe we should understand ALL consciousness as memory, with the split second of the 'specious present' being very vivid and very brief memory, with the rest of the mind remembering in lower degrees.
	From: David Marshall (talk [2004]), quoted by PG - Db (ideas)
	A reaction: This strikes me as a highly plausible, and very illuminating remark. For the time paradox, see Ideas 1904 and 5102. Anyone researching consciousness in the brain should think about this, because it will just be a special sort of memory neurons.

22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / b. Types of pleasure

9196	The pleasure of existing is the only genuine pleasure [Hadot]
	Full Idea: For epicureans, the only genuine pleasure there is is the pleasure of existing.
	From: Pierre Hadot (Philosophy as a way of life [1987], 3.1)
	A reaction: I don't know Hadot's source for this claim, but it is a nice idea, which I shall endeavour to incorporate into my own attitude to daily living. I'm not quite clear, though, why the pleasure of music is not a 'genuine' one.

29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / a. Immortality

1513	The Egyptians were the first to say the soul is immortal and reincarnated [Herodotus]
	Full Idea: The Egyptians were the first to claim that the soul of a human being is immortal, and that each time the body dies the soul enters another creature just as it is being born.
	From: Herodotus (The Histories [c.435 BCE], 2.123.2)