Pursuits of wisdom : six ways of life in ancient philosophy from Socrates to Plotinus

Select an Action

Title:

Pursuits of wisdom : six ways of life in ancient philosophy from Socrates to Plotinus

Author:

Cooper, John M. (John Madison), 1939-

ISBN:

9780691138602

Personal Author:

Cooper, John M. (John Madison), 1939-

Publication Information:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2012.

Physical Description:

xiv, 442 p. ; 24 cm.

General Note:

Formerly CIP.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1.Introduction: On Philosophy as a Way of Life -- 1.Philosophy Ancient, Modern, and Contemporary -- 2.What It Means to Live a Philosophy -- 2.The Socratic Way of Life -- 1.Ancient Philosophy as Intellectual Pursuit vs. as Way of Life -- 2.Socrates in Plato's Apology -- 3.Socratic Dialectic, Socratic Knowledge, and Human Wisdom -- 4.Socratic Philosophy as a Way of Life -- 5.Socrates and the Subsequent Tradition -- 3.Aristotle: Philosophy as Two Ways of Life -- 1.Introduction -- 2.Practical vs. Theoretical Knowledge -- 3.The Highest Good, Happiness, and Virtue -- 4.Two Happy Lives, Two Happinesses: The Contemplative and the Practically Active Lives -- 5.Theoretical vs. Practical Virtue as Highest Good -- 6.The Practical Virtues: General Account -- 7.The Specific Practical Virtues -- 8.Practical Knowledge and Ethical "Theory" -- 9.Political Community and the Highest Good -- 10.Conclusion: Philosophy as Two Ways of Life --

Contents note continued: 4.Stoicism as a Way of Life -- 1.Introduction: The Three Hellenistic Philosophies -- 2.Stoicism: Tradition and Texts -- 3.Stoic Eudaimonism -- 4.Stoic Moral Psychology and the Human Virtues -- 5.Virtue: Agreement with the World-Mind's Plans -- 6.What Is Good vs. What Is Merely of Some Value -- 7.Consequences of the Stoic Theory of Value -- 8.Stoic vs. Aristotelian Conceptions of Emotions or Passions -- 9.The Stoic Way of Life -- 5.The Epicurean and Skeptic Ways of Life -- 1.Introduction -- 2.Epicurus's Theory of the Human Good: "Kinetic" and "Katastematic" Pleasure -- 3.The Epicurean Way of Life: Virtue, Irreligion, Friendship -- 4.The Epicurean Life: Concluding Summary -- 5.Ancient Skepticism: Living without Believing Anything -- 6.The Pyrrhonian Skepticism of Sextus Empiricus -- 7.The Skeptic Way of Life -- 6.Platonism as a Way of Life -- 1.Introduction: Pythagoras, Plato, and Ancient Greek Wisdom -- 2.Plotinus's Platonist Metaphysics --

Contents note continued: 3.Plotinus's Theory of the Human Person -- 4.Three Levels of Human Virtues: "Civic," "Purifying," and "Intellectual" -- 5.Virtue and Happiness -- 6.Philosophy: The Sole Way Up to Life Itself -- 7.Epilogue: The Demise of Pagan Philosophy, and of Philosophy as a Way of Life.

Subject Term:

Philosophy, Ancient.

Wisdom.

Conduct of life.

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025567799	180 C777P 2012	1	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

This is a major reinterpretation of ancient philosophy that recovers the long Greek and Roman tradition of philosophy as a complete way of life--and not simply an intellectual discipline. Distinguished philosopher John Cooper traces how, for many ancient thinkers, philosophy was not just to be studied or even used to solve particular practical problems. Rather, philosophy--not just ethics but even logic and physical theory--was literally to be lived. Yet there was great disagreement about how to live philosophically: philosophy was not one but many, mutually opposed, ways of life. Examining this tradition from its establishment by Socrates in the fifth century BCE through Plotinus in the third century CE and the eclipse of pagan philosophy by Christianity, Pursuits of Wisdom examines six central philosophies of living--Socratic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Epicurean, Skeptic, and the Platonist life of late antiquity.

The book describes the shared assumptions that allowed these thinkers to conceive of their philosophies as ways of life, as well as the distinctive ideas that led them to widely different conclusions about the best human life. Clearing up many common misperceptions and simplifications, Cooper explains in detail the Socratic devotion to philosophical discussion about human nature, human life, and human good; the Aristotelian focus on the true place of humans within the total system of the natural world; the Stoic commitment to dutifully accepting Zeus's plans; the Epicurean pursuit of pleasure through tranquil activities that exercise perception, thought, and feeling; the Skeptical eschewal of all critical reasoning in forming their beliefs; and, finally, the late Platonist emphasis on spiritual concerns and the eternal realm of Being.

Pursuits of Wisdom is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding what the great philosophers of antiquity thought was the true purpose of philosophy--and of life.