Pierre Hadot

Date Created: 25 Jun 2026

Last Updated: 25 Jun 2026

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A hedgehog in Isaiah Berlin’s famous dichotomy, the core, recurring idea of Hadot’s oeuvre is that there are two ways in which philosophy as an activity1 might be understood:

  1. A tradition of textual criticism and interpretation. He sometimes and somewhat cheekily describes this tradition (which for Hadot is the mainstream philosophical tradition in the West) as the heir to medieval scholasticism (on textual commentary grounds). This of course runs strongly against the self-conception of much subsequent philosophy which sees itself as breaking with scholasticism, albeit on grounds of content rather than on grounds of performing different activities.
  2. Philosophy as a way of life, in which philosophy involves the practice of spiritual exercises which effect a modification on and transformation in the person practicing the exercises. For Hadot, this tradition has been neglected in the West, but has never entirely died out.

An example of a spiritual exercise is the Stoic carpe diem (seize the day), closely related to the thought of death. Stoics remind themselves that death may come soon, and so they should value the time they have in the present. By repeating the exercise, stoic practitioners hope that they will ingrain this way of thinking within themselves, and in so doing to make the most of each day and to be grateful for the time they have. Practice of such exercises really is crucial for Hadot: he makes a comparison with the fact one can be a Christian without being a theologian, and so philosophical practice for him is the thing which makes one a philosopher.

Interestingly enough for someone with such a clear preference away from what he called scholastic philosophy, Hadot’s method involves careful reading and translation of the ancient philosophical sources in their original language. Of his books I’ve read or looked at to date, many translators note that this introduces some interesting problems for translating the extensive quotations he provides: one cannot casually use existing English translations of the same sources.

His What is Ancient Philosophy? is excellent and highly recommended. He covers a lot of ground, and in general the book is an eye-opening introduction to ancient philosophy. Of course, I’m not a specialist, so take my recommendation with a pinch of salt. And note that he had his critics: I’m aware that Martha Nussbaum for instance criticsed his conception of philosophy as a way of life failed to differentiate it from ancient religion. For Nussbaum, the crucial differentiator is the use of reason. Hadot for his part claims that Christianity was a form of revealed philosophy, in that it involved a “style of life and mode of being”.

I’m personally sympathetic to Nusssbaum’s point, but I don’t think it undermines Hadot’s contribution. I do think it suggests a more nuanced view, where philosophy as an activity encompasses both practice and textual criticism drawing on reason rather than established authority or revelation.

Hadot interestingly is interested in reviving philosophy as a way of life, though admits this will be difficult without the Athenian schools which enabled it. He also claims that living like a philosopher is reasonably independent of discourse, as the same philosophical exercise can be justified in many ways. He cites in various places the examples of figures such as Montaigne, Goethe, Nietzsche, and Thoreau as preserving this version of philosophy.

Primary Readings

To Read

Way of Life Series

Hadot’s collected writings are part of a series from Bloomsbury on philosophy as a way of life (see the webpage for the series at this link), and some of the other books look equally interesting:

Footnotes

  1. ‘Philosophy’ as activity is here to be distinguished from ‘philosophy’ as a system of beliefs, i.e. “X’s philosophy”. In the introdcuction of What is Ancient Philosophy? Hadot distinguishes between philosophy and philosophies. ↩