Socratic Ironies: Reading Hadot, Reading Kierkegaard
This paper examines the seemingly unlikely rapport between the Christian existentialist, radically Protestant thinker, Søren Kierkegaard and French classicist and historian of philosophy, Pierre Hadot, famous for advocating a return to the ancient pagan sense of philosophy as a way of life. Despit...
| Published in: | Sophia |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Netherlands
[2016]
|
| In: |
Sophia
|
| IxTheo Classification: | TB Antiquity TJ Modern history TK Recent history VA Philosophy |
| Further subjects: | B
Hadot
B Socrates B Kierkegaard B Christianity B Irony B Philosophy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This paper examines the seemingly unlikely rapport between the Christian existentialist, radically Protestant thinker, Søren Kierkegaard and French classicist and historian of philosophy, Pierre Hadot, famous for advocating a return to the ancient pagan sense of philosophy as a way of life. Despite decisive differences we stress in our concluding remarks, we argue that the conception of philosophy in Hadot as a way of life shares decisive features with Kierkegaards understanding of the true religious life: as something demanding existential engagement from its proponent, as well as the learning or recitation of accepted doctrines. The mediating figure between the two authors, the paper agrees with Irina (2012), is Socrates and his famous irony. In order to appreciate Kierkegaards rapport with Hadot, then (and in contrast to Gregor, who has also treated the two figures) we first of all consider Hadots treatment of the enigmatic old wise man who remains central to Kierkegaards entire authorship. (Part 1) However, to highlight Hadots Socratic proximity to Kierkegaard (in contrast to Irina), we set up Hadots Socrates against the contrasting portrait readers can find in John M. Coopers recent work on Socrates and philosophy as a way of life. Part II of the essay turns back from Hadots and Kierkegaards Socrates towards Hadots own work, and arguesagain moving beyond both Gregor and Irinas works on Hadot and Kierkegaardthat the shape of Hadots authorship, including his remarkably classical style, can be understood by way of Kierkegaards notion of indirect communication. In our concluding remarks, in the spirit of Kierkegaard, we pinpoint the fundamental difference between the two thinkers, arguing that for Hadot in contrast to Kierkegaard, a stress on existential commitment in no way speaks against the philosophical defence of a form of rational universalism. Reading Hadot via Kierkegaard allows us to appreciate Hadots novelty as attempting to squaring the circle between an emphasis on subjectivity and, as it were, the subjective dimensions of philosophers pursuit of rational universality. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1873-930X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sophia
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s11841-016-0512-6 |