Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Through the Looking Glass', 'What is Critique?' and 'Philosophy as a way of life'

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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.

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / e. Being and nothing

21982	I only wish I had such eyes as to see Nobody! It's as much as I can do to see real people. [Carroll,L]
	Full Idea: "I see nobody on the road," said Alice. - "I only wish I had such eyes," the King remarked. ..."To be able to see Nobody! ...Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people."
	From: Lewis Carroll (C.Dodgson) (Through the Looking Glass [1886], p.189), quoted by A.W. Moore - The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics 07.7
	A reaction: [Moore quotes this, inevitably, in a chapter on Hegel] This may be a better candidate for the birth of philosophy of language than Frege's Groundwork.

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.

24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 3. Government / a. Government

22236	The big question of the Renaissance was how to govern everything, from the state to children [Foucault]
	Full Idea: How to govern was one of the fundamental question of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. ...How to govern children, the poor and beggars, how to govern the family, a house, how to govern armies, different groups, cities, states, and govern one's self.
	From: Michel Foucault (What is Critique? [1982], p.28), quoted by Johanna Oksala - How to Read Foucault 9
	A reaction: A nice example of Foucault showing how things we take for granted (techniques of control) have been slowly learned, and then taught as standard. Of course, the Romans knew how to govern an army.