Author: Christine Darr
Category: Metaphilosophy, Ethics, Phenomenology and Existentialism
Word Count: 998
If you have ever learned a philosophical idea and tried to incorporate it into your daily living, you may be interested in an approach called philosophy as a way of life (PWOL).
Instead of analyzing concepts or arguments, or constructing a theory of the world, PWOL’s approach emphasizes the practice of living philosophically. This involves critical reflection on ourselves and the world and practical exercises meant to align our behaviors with our worldview. It is the difference between, for example, analyzing Aristotle’s arguments about living a virtuous life and trying to develop virtuous habits yourself.[1]
This essay introduces the PWOL approach and offers examples of what it can look like to live philosophically in the present day.
1. Pierre Hadot
Many contemporary philosophers have adopted a PWOL approach to philosophy because of the work of French philosopher Pierre Hadot (1922-2010).
Hadot observes that many ancient philosophers believed their philosophical thinking should shape how they lived their lives. For example, Stoics[2] and Epicureans[3] formed schools that encouraged both intellectual engagement and living in accordance with one’s intellectual commitments. Hadot claims that living philosophically is a practice accessible to anyone who desires to live consistently with their evolving understanding of the world.[4]
2. Critical Reflection about the Good Life
Living philosophically is partly a matter of critically reflecting on the good life: how should I spend my time? What kind of career should I pursue? What responsibilities do I have to myself and others?
Questions like these elicit lively philosophical debate with people offering us reasons to accept or reject their views.[5] We then have the opportunity to engage in critical reflection. Critical reflection involves considering the merits of these views, how they compare to others, which views align with our values, and whether we should reconsider those values.[6]
Engaging in critical reflection when confronted with new ideas about how we ought to live is a life-long pursuit—it’s a way of life! Our circumstances might change, causing us to reexamine our views. Remaining open and thoughtful is crucial for living philosophically, but other things are required as well.
3. Spiritual Exercises
While critical reflection is necessary for living philosophically, it is not sufficient: we may have a compelling vision of the good life yet fail to act on that vision. For example, if I believe that mindless consumption detracts from the good life, you might expect me to at least try to limit my mindless consumption.[7] Yet, as humans have observed throughout history, we often fail to fully live up to our ideals.[8]
So intellectual acceptance of ideas is not enough; the change should also include our actions, our emotions, and so on. Hadot argues that what he calls “spiritual” exercises should transform how we see and participate in the world around us. He explains that these exercises are spiritual not in the sense that they are religious, but in that they are meant to be personally transformative.
And they are exercises because they are activities people must practice habitually, much like physical exercise, to develop their philosophical practice of acting in accordance with their worldview.
4. A Formula for PWOL and Contemporary Examples
To understand how critical reflection and spiritual exercise work together, let’s consider some examples.
Step One: Learning about a new theory.
Say you are learning about Epicureanism, and read that the key to a happy life is to pursue pleasure which, in part, requires us to think carefully about which desires contribute to our pleasure and which cause us harm.[9]
Step Two: evaluating our current habits — in this case, evaluating our desires in light of this theory.
Some desires, say for money or popularity, can never be fully satisfied and therefore cause us pain. This insight may lead me to see that my social media activity is driven by a desire for popularity.
Step Three: With this realization, I adopt a new habit.
I stop posting to social media for a week.
Step Four: while I engage in this habit, I notice my reactions, reflecting on how this new habit has changed me.
I am now in a more informed position to assess how this view can help me attain the sort of life I desire.[10]
Let’s consider another example from Stoicism. Following the formula above, the process can look like this:
- A commonly-held Stoic belief is that much of our fear and anxiety arises from fixating on things beyond our control.[11]
- When a situation arises that brings up difficult feelings, say I fail a test, I should ask myself: what in this situation is inside of my control and what is outside of it? That I can’t change the grade I received and I can’t change the impact on my GPA are outside my control.
- To combat this anxiety—when our plans fail, when we feel disappointed by a particular outcome, and so on—Stoics argue that we ought to develop “equanimity” or mental calmness. We do that by reflecting on what is inside of our control and what is outside of it, and to focus our attention and efforts on what is within our control.
- After some reflection, we have a new perspective from which to reevaluate the theory and begin the process again.
5. Conclusion
This process can be adopted for many theories.[12] Learning about effective altruism, or other arguments regarding how we should spend our money?[13] See how changing your spending habits for a month changes your understanding. Animal rights? Adopt a vegetarian diet and reflect on your new perspective.[14] Trying to develop an intellectual virtue, such as intellectual carefulness,[15] could help you gain new insight into logical fallacies and your commitment to believing what’s true.
Whatever the philosophical theory, the intention of PWOL is to help us put those ideas into practice. Practicing philosophy, in this sense, helps us understand the theory better. It helps us to align our intellectual commitments and our actions. The best way to learn about PWOL is to try out the process yourself and come to your own conclusions!
Notes
[1] To learn more about Aristotle and virtue, see Virtue Ethics by David Merry.
[2] Aurelius’s Meditations or Epictetus’s manual The Enchiridion are both accessible primary texts regarding Stoicism. For an excellent introduction to Stoicism for the contemporary world, see Pigliucci (2017).
[3] For an extensive discussion of Epicureanism as a way of life, see Austin (2022).
[4] Hadot (1995: p. 275).
[5] This debate includes the question of whether there is a specific model of the good life that everyone ought to adopt or whether each of us individually determines for ourselves what our version of the good life consists in. For related discussion of these issues, see Meaning in Life: What Makes Our Lives Meaningful? by Matthew Pianalto.
[6] Spencer Case’s Is it Wrong to Believe Without Sufficient Evidence? provides a useful explanation of the “ethics of belief” and could be a helpful guide for engaging in the sort of critical reflection recommended here.
[7] For a robust discussion of the practices of consuming and the potential impact of those practices on our wellbeing, see Darr (2022).
[8] Plato’s Protagoras is an extended reflection on this issue. The Apostle Paul also wrestles with problem in Romans 7:15-20.
[9] For a more extensive explanation of these views, see Austin (2022) especially chapter five: “What do you want?”
[10] While these examples are simplified for the purposes of demonstrating how PWOL could look, I hope they will inspire you to try it out on your own!
[11] To learn more about this Stoic belief, see “What Many People Misunderstand About the Stoic Dichotomy of Control” by Michael Tremblay.
[12] This would even include non-philosophical work. For example, Robin Wall Kimmerer is an environmental biologist. However, her work challenges her readers to critically reflect on their beliefs and engage in ways of life that are transformative such that she is an excellent example of living philosophically. See Kimmerer (2013) and Kimmerer (2015).
[13] For more about effective altruism, see Ethics and Absolute Poverty by Brandon Boesch. Also see Singer (2015).
[14] For an introduction to some ethical issues concerning animals, see The Moral Status of Animals by Jason Wyckoff, Speciesism by Dan Lowe, and “Can They Suffer?”: Bentham on our Obligations to Animals by Daniel Weltman.
[15] For a great introduction to intellectual virtue, see King (2021).
References
Aurelius, Marcus (2003). Meditations. Translated by Gregory Hays. Penguin Random House. (2003).
Austin, Emily A (2022). Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life. Oxford UP.
Darr, Christine (2022). The Production of Consumers and the Formation of Desire: A Neo-Thomist Perspective. Lexington Books.
Epictetus. The Enchiridion, trans. Elizabeth Carter. Internet Classics Archive.
Hadot, Pierre (1995). Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault. Blackwell.
Kimmerer, Robin Wall (2015). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed.
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. (2015) “Nature Needs a New Pronoun: To Stop the Age of Extinction, Let’s Start By Ditching ‘It’.” Yes! Magazine, Spring.
King, Nathan (2021) The Excellent Mind: Intellectual Virtues for Everyday Life. Oxford UP.
Pigliucci, Massimo (2017). How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life. Hachette Book Group.
Plato. Protagoras, trans. Benjamin Jowett. Project Gutenberg
Singer, Peter (2010). The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty. The Life You Can Save. (2019). www.thelifeyoucansave.org
Tremblay, Michael (2021). “What Many People Misunderstand About the Stoic Dichotomy of Control.” Modern Stoicism.
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Virtue Ethics by David Merry
Critical Thinking: What is it to be a Critical Thinker? by Carolina Flores
Is it Wrong to Believe Without Sufficient Evidence? W.K. Clifford’s “Ethics of Belief” by Spencer Case
Ancient Cynicism: Rejecting Civilization and Returning to Nature by G. M. Trujillo, Jr.
What is Philosophy? by Thomas Metcalf
Meaning in Life: What Makes Our Lives Meaningful? by Matthew Pianalto
Ethics and Absolute Poverty: Peter Singer and Effective Altruism by Brandon Boesch
Theories of Moral Considerability: Who and What Matters Morally? by Jonathan Spelman
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Speciesism by Dan Lowe
“Can They Suffer?”: Bentham on our Obligations to Animals by Daniel Weltman
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About the Author
Christine Darr is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dubuque. She is the author of The Production of Consumers and the Formation of Desire: A Neo-Thomist Perspective. Her interests include environmental ethics, breaking down complex ideas into understandable ones, making art and being awed by nature. dbq.edu/Academics/OfficeofAcademicAffairs/AcademicDepartments/PhilosophyPoliticsandHistory/Faculty
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