Pierre Hadot (Paris, 1922 -), Philosopher French.

French philosopher and historian of antiquity (deep expert of the Hellénistique period), Pierre Hadot is the author of a current and major work, whose influence is not measured yet enough, in particular developed around the concept of spiritual exercise and philosophy like manner of living.

Specialist in Plotin and the Stoicism, in particular of Marc-Aurèle, it is one of those which accompanied the return to the ancient Philosophie, considered as practice, manner of living and spiritual exercise. Its books, very pleasant to read and of a very great scholarship, constantly express a relationship with the existence, the experiment, even poetry, the literature and mysticism. It is one of the first to have introduced the thought of Wittgenstein in France.

He explains the recurring problem of ancient interpretation (with being known of contradictions in the writings of the authors, anomalies etc) by renewing the vision which we had of the spiritual universe where evolved/moved the men of antiquity and their practice, particular, of philosophy: the philosophers of antiquity did not seek so much a system of comprehension of the world, not so much to inform their disciples, and to develop, as that could be the case in modern philosophy, of the speculative, conceptual speeches without other concern: for Pierre Hadot, ancient philosophy was before very practical of the existence, spiritual exercise, manner of living and of dying. Thus, oral teaching becomes more important than written teaching, the precise answers to the disciples more than the development of a thesis, the practice more than the theory (without never eliminating this one, since there cannot be of practice without philosophical speech), therefore a practice spiritual and transformative from the existence, which can explain many contradictions that one can find in the writings of Antiquity: they answer requests, particular and concrete needs, often practical.

By developing the concepts d'" then; exercise spirituel" , of " vision of in haut" (or of cosmos), of report/ratio to oneself etc, Pierre Hadot exposes in fact, since the historian is philosophical, since the historian must be made philosopher, a true modern philosophy of the existence: a philosophy which reveals the ancient practice for better proposing it to us. It is a call to a wisdom which draws from these " laboratoires" universal of Western antiquity, so near to the East of Confucius, Buddha and Lao Tseu, or of Islam, a human wisdom, which joins again with the experiment and the practice of oneself, other, existence and cosmos. Salutary call also for any philosophy of university: logic, physics, ethics, morals, epistemology are not speeches to which it is necessary to be enough: one must be used for thinking well, the other with acting well, another still with good food etc, here the finality of any philosophy. One does not philosophize of 10:00 to 12:00, and an essay to a contest, but to save his skin well, and to live differently.

Director with the practical School of the high studies of 1964 with 1986 and professor with the Collège de France since 1982, his influence is increasing in the contemporary thought. One can quote in particular at Michel Foucault (influenced by his book on the spiritual exercises, and which presented it to the Collège de France, Michel Foucault develops in its Histoire of sexuality and the Herméneutique of the subject, of the topics close to Pierre Hadot, even if this one were explained several times of convergences and divergences with him), André Count-Sponville (in particular in his Esprit of atheism introduction to a spirituality without God ), Michel Onfray (large admiror of the work of Hadot, one will be able in particular to see of it the mention in the first volume of its Against Histoire of philosophy: ancient wisdoms ), Remi Brague ( the wisdom of the World ), Luc Ferry ( Which is what a successful life? ), Jacqueline Russ etc

Works

• spiritual Exercises and ancient philosophy.

• What ancient philosophy? (1996)

Editions and ancient translations of authors

to supplement…

• Marc Aurèle, Written for itself . Volume 1, general Introduction. Deliver I; ED. and tr. Pierre Hadot, with the collab. of Concetta Luna. Paris, Beautiful Letters, 1998. (Collection of the Universities of France). ISBN 2-251-00472-6.

• Simplicius, Comment on the Categories of Aristote. Chapters 2-4 ; transl. P. Hoffmann, with the collab. of Ilsetraut Hadot and Pierre Hadot, comment by Concetta Luna. Paris, Beautiful Letters, 2001. (Anagogè; 2). ISBN 2-251-18001-X.

Critical comments, studies, tests

• Porphyry and Victorinus . Paris, Institute of Studies augustiniennes, 1968. (Collection of the studies augustiniennes. Series antiquity; 32-33).

• spiritual Exercises and ancient philosophy . Paris, Studies augustiniennes, 1981. (Collection of the studies augustiniennes. Series antiquity; 88). ISBN 2-85121-039-4.
• the interior citadel. Introduction to the Thoughts of Marc Aurèle . Paris, Beech, 1992. ISBN 2-213-02984-9.
• What ancient philosophy? . Paris, Gallimard, 1995. (Folio tests; 280). ISBN 2-07-032760-4.
• Plotin or the simplicity of the glance ; 4th ED. Paris, Gallimard, 1997. (Folio tests; 302). ISBN 2-07-032965-8.
• Studies of old philosophy . Paris, Beautiful Letters, 1998. (The gold ass; 8). ISBN 2-251-42007-X. (collection of articles),
• Plotin. Porphyry. Studies neoplatonicians . Paris, Beautiful Letters, 1999. (The gold ass; 10). ISBN 2-251-42010-X. (collection of articles)
• philosophy like manner of living . Paris, Albin Michel, 2002. (Routes of the knowledge). ISBN 2-226-12261-3.
• spiritual Exercises and ancient philosophy , new ED. Paris, Albin Michel, 2002. (Library of the evolution of humanity). ISBN 2-226-13485-9.
• the veil of Isis. Test on the history of the idea of nature . Paris, Gallimard, 2004. (NRF tests). ISBN 2-07-073088-3.
• Wittgenstein and limits of the language . Paris, J. Vrin, 2004. (Library of history of philosophy). ISBN 2-7116-1704-1.
• To learn how to philosophize in antiquity. The teaching of the Handbook of Epictète and its comment neoplatonician (with Ilsetraut Hadot). Paris, LGF, 2004. (The book of pocket; 603). ISBN 2-253-10935-5.
• " Praise of Socrate". Combined