Philosophy as a way of life

When, in 1 964, I was elected to the Fifth Section of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes,9 my colleagues viewed me above all as the translator of Victorin us, and it was natural for me to have been elected to the chair of Latin Patristics. Among other factors, this explains how I came to publish an edition and translation of the Apologia David of Bishop Ambrose of Milan.10 I must confess, however, that Latin Patristics didn't really interest me. Fortunately, my colleagues agreed to change the title of my chair, which became

"Theologies and Mysticisms of Hellenistic Greece and of the End of Antiquity." Thus I was able to return to the mystical passages of Plotinus, on which I commented before my auditors for many years.

However, it was also at this time that my relationship with Plotinus began to become more complex, and that I arrived at my present position. On the one hand, I believe that this great author has yet to be explained in the detailed way he deserves, and that's why I have undertaken the translation with commentary of the totality of his works. Moreover, the phenomenon of mysticism, which is so striking in Plotinus, continues to intrigue me. Y ct, as I grow older, Plotinus speaks to me less and less, if I may say so I have

.

become considerably detached from him. From 1 970 on, I have felt very strongly that it was Epicurcnnism and Stoicism which could nouri11h the spiritual l i fe of men and women of our times, 1111 well 1111 my own . Tlllll w1111

Postscript

281

how I came to write my book on spiritual exercises. Indeed, here at the end of the century - and no one is more surprised at this than myself - we are witnessing an increasing interest in these two philosophies on the part of the reading public. This is a remarkable phenomenon, hard to explain.

To sum up my inner evolution, I would say the following: in 1 946, I naively believed that I, too, could relive the Plotinian mystical experience. But I later realized that this was an illusion. The conclusion of my book Plotinus already hinted that the idea of the "purely spiritual" is untenable. It is true that there is something ineffable in human existence, but this ineffable is within our very perception of the world, in the mystery of our existence and that of the cosmos. Still, it can lead to an experience which could be qualified as mystical.

M. C. What do the expressions "philosophy" and "living a philosophical life" signify for you?

P.H. For me, the word "philosophy" corresponds first of all to an historical phenomenon. In was the Greeks who created the word, probably in the sixth or fifth century BC, and it was Plato who gave it its strongest meaning: philo-sophia, "love of wisdom," the wisdom which one lacks. Since that time there has been an intellectual, spiritual, and social phenomenon, which has taken on a variety of forms, and which has been called philosophy. From this point of view, it is legitimate to ask whether there exists a "philosophy"

outside of the Western tradition, or of the Arabic tradition, insofar as the latter is the inheritor of Greek philosophy.

Now, an historical phenomenon is in constant evolution. Contemporary

"philosophy" is obviously very different from the "philosophy" of Socrates and Plato, just as contemporary Christianity is very different from the Evangelistic message. Is this evolution a good thing? Is it an evil? I won't go into that. I do think, however, that it is always legitimate to go back to the origins, in order better to understand the meaning of a phenomenon, and that is what I try to do.

I have tried to define what philosophy was for a person in antiquity. In my view, the essential characteristic of the phenomenon "philosophy" in antiquity was that at that time a philosopher was, above all, someone who lived in a philosophical way. In other words, the philosopher was someone whose life was guided by his or her reason, and who was a practitioner of the moral virtues. This is obvious, for example, from the portrait Alcibiades gives of Socrates at the end of Plato's Symposium. We can also observe it in Xenophon, where Hippias asks Socrates for a definition of justice. Socrates replies:

"Instead of talking about it, I make it appear through my actions." Originally, then, philosophy is above all the choice of a form of life, to which philosophical discourse then gives justifications and theoretical foundations.