Pursuits of wisdom : six ways of life in ancient philosophy from Socrates to Plotinus / John M. Cooper.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 425-429) and index.

Introduction : on philosophy as a way of life -- The Socratic way of life -- Aristotle : philosophy as two ways of life -- Stoicism as a way of life -- The Epicurean and Skeptic ways of life -- Platonism as a way of life.

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.

Print version record.

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