Philosophy as Way of Life for Christians? Iamblichan and Porphyrian Reflections on Religion, Virtue, and Philosophy in Thomas Aquinas

Abstract

A. Stoic beginning and Stoic conclusion. Pierre Hadot’s writings and statements bearing on philosophy as a way of life, to which we owe so much for a better understanding of ancient philosophy, have emerged over a long period. In La philosophie comme maniere de vivre. Entretiens avec Jeanne Carlier et Arnold I. Davidson, published in 2001, he notes that the first time he wrote about “exercices spirituels” the subject was not “de bon ton,” 2 and, in fact, several years stand between his thinking about ancient philosophy in these terms and his placing his work under this title. In the Annuaire of Section des sciences religieuses of the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes, his “Rapport sur l’exercice” undertaken in 1971-72 on Marcus Aurelius describes the work thus: