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1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / f. Philosophy as healing

[philosophy as a way to restore mental health]

2 ideas

22240	The aim of medicine is removal of sickness, and philosophy similarly removes our affections [Epicurus]
	Full Idea: Just as there is no benefit to medicine if it does not heal the sicknesses [nosos] of bodies, so too there is none to philosophy unless it expels that affections of the soul.
	From: Epicurus (fragments/reports [c.289 BCE], fr 221), quoted by James Allen - Soul's Virtue and the Health of the Body p.78
	A reaction: This sounds rather Buddhist, if the only route to happiness is to suppress the emotions. Epicurus probably refers to the more extreme desires, which only lead to harm. Galen quotes Chrysippus as endorsing this idea (see footnote 5).

14889	Philosophy is pointless if it does not advocate, and live, a new way of life [Nietzsche]
	Full Idea: As long as philosophers do not muster the courage to advocate a lifestyle structured in an entirely different way and demonstrate it by their own example, they will come to nothing.
	From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1872-74 [1873], 31 [10])
	A reaction: This is a pretty tough requirement for the leading logicians and metaphysicians of our day, but they must face their marginality. The public will only be interested in philosophers who advocate new ways of living.