The Art of Living The Stoics on the Nature

It is a commonplace to say that in antiquity philosophy was conceived as a way of life or an art of living, but precisely what such claims amount to has remained unclear. John Sellars explores this via a detailed account of ancient Stoic ideas about the nature and function of philosophy. He considers the Socratic background to Stoic thinking about philosophy and Sceptical objections raised by Sextus Empiricus, and offers readings of late Stoic texts by Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Sellars argues that the conception of philosophy as an art of living has persisted since antiquity and remains a living alternative to modern attempts to assimilate philosophy to the natural sciences. This is the first paperback edition, with a new Preface by the author.

John Sellars is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of the West of England in Bristol. He also teaches for The London Consortium, a multi-disciplinary graduate programme in the humanities.

Preface to the Second Edition	p. vii
Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
The Topic	p. 1
The Structure	p. 7
ß¿oς and ¿¿¿v¿
Philosophy and Biography	p. 15
The Philosopher's Beard	p. 15
¿¿¿¿ and ¿¿¿o¿
The Philosopher's ß¿oς	p. 21
Summary	p. 32
The Socratic Origins of the Art of Living	p. 33
Philosophy and ß¿oς	p. 33
Care of Oneself in the Apology and Alcibiades I	p. 36
The Analysis of ¿¿¿v¿ in the Gorgias	p. 39
Different Types of ¿¿¿v¿	p. 42
The Role of ¿¿¿¿¿¿ς	p. 42
Aristotle's Interpretation of Socrates	p. 50
Summary	p. 53
The Stoic Conception of the Art of Living	p. 55
The Phrase 'Art of Living'	p. 55
The Ideal of the Sage	p. 59
An Art Concerned with the Soul	p. 64
Stoic Definitions of ¿¿¿v¿	p. 68
The Relationship between ¿¿¿¿¿¿ς and ¿o¿oς	p. 75
The Stoic Division of Philosophy	p. 78
Towards a Definition of Philosophy	p. 81
Summary	p. 84
Sceptical Objections	p. 86
The Sceptical Method	p. 87
Sextus Empiricus' Objections to an Art of Living	p. 88
Philosophy and Biography in Scepticism	p. 101
Summary	p. 103
¿o¿oς and ¿¿¿¿¿¿ς
Philosophical Exercises	p. 107
The Relationship between ¿¿¿¿¿¿ς and ¿o¿oς	p. 107
The Concept of a Spiritual Exercise	p. 110
The Function of Spiritual Exercises	p. 118
The Mechanism of Spiritual Exercises	p. 123
The Form of Spiritual Exercises	p. 126
Exercises in the Handbook of Epictetus	p. 129
Introduction to the Handbook	p. 129
Three Types of Spiritual Exercise	p. 133
Summary	p. 145
Exercises in the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius	p. 147
The Literary Form of the Meditations	p. 147
The Point of View of the Cosmos	p. 150
Summary	p. 165
Conclusion	p. 167
Towards a Technical Conception of Philosophy	p. 167
Two Conceptions of Philosophical Knowledge	p. 171
Philosophy and Biography	p. 171
Three Different Types of Philosophical Text	p. 172
The Persistence of the Technical Conception of Philosophy	p. 173
Additional Notes	p. 176
Glossary of Greek Works and Phrases	p. 181
Guide to Ancient Philosophers and Authors	p. 184
Bibliography	p. 188
Index Locorum	p. 210
General Index	p. 226
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The Art of Living The Stoics on the Nature and Function of Philosophy

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