Philosophy, Theory or Way of Life? Controversies in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

by Juliusz Domański, Pierre Hadot (Introduction), Eli Kramer (Editor)

Philosophy in antiquity was conceived not as mere theory but as a way of life; but it lost its 'practicist' cast through a process that begins in the patristic era and peaks with its conversion into an academic discipline in the medieval universities under the influence of 13th-century scholasticism. Juliusz Domański sets out the reasons behind that process and shows how traces of the 'practicist' orientation survived, ultimately leading to a recovery of the ancient notion among the humanists of the Renaissance. A foreword by Pierre Hadot relates Domański’s research to his own vision of the history of philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy

156 pages, Hardcover

Published July 17, 2024

Reviews

[Jef Gerets · Rating 4 out of 5]

The work of Domanski can be seen as an extension of Pierre Hadot's work. Domanski focuses on the reception of philosophy throughout the Middle Ages until the Renaissance. He builds upon Hadot's thesis that philosophy lost its practical application when Christianity subsumed it and made it its handmaiden. Philosophy in the Scholastic tradition became 'scientistic', meaning solely theoretical. Christianity took over the practical conception of philosophy. Only Christianity adopted a way of life at that time. Philosophy was reduced to the theoretical aspect.

We still see this conception until this day. We deem religion as proposing a different way of seeing the world, a specific worldview. Philosophy is rather abstract and theoretical; also not very useful. However, Domanski argues that the atopia of the philosopher, his peculiarity, still remains in some non-scholastic traditions of philosophy. Indeed the culmination of this concept can be found in Erasmus, who quite clearly viewed the personality and practicality of the philosopher of immense importance for philosophy as a whole.

I believe that the 'scientistic' image of philosophy has taken hold again, although there are many signs of that changing. It is therefore not surprising that a renewed renaissance of ancient literature, philosophy and mythology is happening.