Does Philosophy Form or Inform? (Review of the Monograph Pierre Ado “Philosophy as a Way of Life”. Transl. by O. Yosypenko. Kyiv: New Acropolis, 2020).

The review includes a book by Pierre Ado, a French philosopher, philologist and researcher for ancient and medieval philosophy. The main idea of the book is to find an answer on the question: does philosophy form or inform? In this way, the author tries to actualize the fact that philosophical discourse and philosophical life are inseparable. He believes that the recognition of philosophical life as one of the poles of philosophy will help to find a place in our modern world for philosophers who will not only renew philosophical discourse, but also direct it into their lives. This book is addressed to everyone. Ado is convinced that anyone who dares to live in a philosophical way can become a philosopher.

Temperance and Epistemic Purity in Plato’s Phaedo

In this paper I examine the moral psychology of the Phaedo and argue that the philosophical life in this dialogue is a temperate life, and that temperance consists in exercising epistemic discernment by actively withdrawing assent from incorrect evaluations the body inclines us to make. Philosophers deal with bodily affections by taking a correct epistemic stance. Exercising temperance thus understood is a necessary condition both for developing and strengthening rational capacities, and for fixing accurate beliefs about value. The purification philosophers strive for, and the purifying role of philosophy, should then be understood as a clarificatory act consisting in making one’s thoughts clear and withdrawing assent from erroneous evaluative content in our desires and pleasures. Along the way, I argue that philosophers must neither avoid situations and activities that cause bodily affections as much as possible, nor ignore or care little about them.

Konstruksi Identitas Nasionalisme Dalam Pikukuh Masyarakat Adat Baduy

<p>This research is entitled “Construction of Nationalism Identity in Baduy Society Based on Pikukuh and Buyut.” This is a library research on the philosophical life of the Baduy, a traditional community in Indonesia. Analysis was conducted using interpretation, inductive and deductive, internal coherence, and holistica approaches. This research resulted is some conclusions. First, the Baduy community was found to uphold a form of ethno-nationalism which is based on Pikukuh and Buyut with a strong focus on the meaning of leadership, communal life, and observance of laws. However, this ethno-nationalism does not conflict with the state nationalism upheld by the Indonesian government. Indeed, seba shows that there has always been good relationship between the Baduy people (which uphold ethno-nationalism) and the Indonesian government (which upholds state nationalism). Secondly, the “imagined” nationalism in the Baduy community is founded based on traditional bond, in which case nationalism is not separated from tradition. Consequently, the values are oriented towards basic rationality in order to construct an identity of nationalism unique to the Baduy community. However, at the same time, instrumental rationality and the value-oriented rationality have the same role, in that they serve to construct the meaning of nationalism in the Baduy community. All of these factors result in a harmonious relationship between ethno-nationalism upheld by the the Baduy community and state nationalism upheld by the Indonesian government.</p>

Introduction

Seneca’s writings offer us our widest window into the intersection of the idea of philosophy as a way of life with Roman culture and politics. Seneca was himself alert to the tension between these two sources of moral guidance. His work traces a complex interplay between the two and aims to construct a coherent picture of the philosophical life through detailed engagement with the social context in which that life is lived and the socially constituted array of concepts through which it is delineated. Reconstructing his stance on the questions that emerge requires a combination of literary and philosophical approaches. This book will show that for Seneca the philosophical life can be described and defended only through the materials provided by the ambient community.

Slavery

This chapter seeks to broaden discussion of slavery in Seneca by moving away from a focus on Seneca’s normative views about slavery. Instead, it asks what function slavery plays in Seneca’s idea of the philosophical life. Examination of a series of stories about enslaved people shows that Seneca uses such stories both to give specificity to his idea of the philosophical life and to argue for its value. Seneca’s ideas about not only freedom but also instrumentality and moral development turn on the conceptual and rhetorical materials supplied by slavery. The tracing of this dependence is a study in the centrality of slavery in Roman intellectual history.