Pierre Hadot
| Pierre Hadot | |
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| Born | February 21, 1922 Reims, France |
| Died | 24 April 2010 (aged 88) Orsay, France |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School |
Continental philosophy Philosophy of life |
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Main interests
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History of ancient Greek philosophy, history of Neoplatonism |
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Notable ideas
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The conception of ancient Greek philosophy as a bios (βίος) or way of life (manière de vivre) |
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Influenced
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Pierre Hadot (French: [ado]; February 21, 1922 – April 24, 2010) was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy specializing in ancient philosophy, particularly Neoplatonism.
In 1944, Hadot was ordained, but following Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Humani generis (1950) left the priesthood. He studied at the Sorbonne between 1946–1947. In 1961, he graduated from the École Pratique des Hautes Études, where he would become the Director of Studies from 1964 to 1986. He was eventually named professor at the Collège de France in 1982, where he held the Chair of History in Hellenistic and Roman Thought (chaire d'histoire de la pensée hellénistique et romaine). In 1991, he retired from this position to become professeur honoraire at the collège; his last lecture was on May 22 of the same year. He concluded the class saying, "In the last analysis, we can scarcely talk about what is most important."
Hadot was married to the historian of philosophy, Ilsetraut Hadot.
Hadot was one of the first authors to introduce Ludwig Wittgenstein's thought into France. Hadot suggested that one cannot separate the form of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations from their content. Wittgenstein had claimed that philosophy was an illness of language and Hadot notes that the cure required a particular type of literary genre.
Hadot is also famous for his analysis on the conception of philosophy during Greco-Roman antiquity. Hadot identified and analyzed the "spiritual exercises" used in ancient philosophy (influencing Michel Foucault’s interest in such practices in the second and third volumes of his History of Sexuality). By "spiritual exercises" Hadot means "practices ... intended to effect a modification and a transformation in the subjects who practice them. The philosophy teacher's discourse could be presented in such a way that the disciple, as auditor, reader, or interlocutor, could make spiritual progress and transform himself within." Hadot shows that the key to understanding the original philosophical impulse is to be found in Socrates. What characterizes Socratic therapy above all is the importance given to living contact between human beings.
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