July 2024
Adversaria (16)
31 July 2024, around 4.21.
‘Divination had been practised for centuries. Everyone knew that one thing rather than another was to happen to him. He might not be very rational about it’ —George Boas (introduction to The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo, p. 13)
‘Although every written work is a monologue, the philosophical work is always implicitly a dialogue. The dimension of the possible interlocutor is always present in it’ —Pierre Hadot (‘Spiritual Exercises’ in Philosophy as a Way of Life, trans. Michael Chase, p. 105)
‘Pen in hand, one may dream such a dream in the study, but in contact with reality it comes to nothing’ —Peter Kropotkin (The Conquest of Bread, trans. anon., p. 69)
In almost all Plato’s Socratic dialogues, there comes a moment of crisis, when the interlocutors are overcome by discouragement. They no longer have confidence in the possibility of continuing the discussion, and it seems as though the dialogue is about to be broken off. This is where Socrates intervenes: he takes the others’ doubt, uneasiness, and discouragement upon himself. He assumes all the risks of the dialectical adventure, and carries out a complete switching of roles.. If the enterprise fails, it will henceforth be his responsibility. In this way, he shows his interlocutors a projection of their own selves. They can now transfer their personal uneasiness onto Socrates, and regain confidence in dialectical research and in the logos itself.
‘…fine ladies would find that palaces were not well adapted to self-help in the kitchen’ —Peter Kropotkin (The Conquest of Bread, trans. anon., p. 85)
‘Kierkegaard’s goal was to make the reader aware of his mistakes, not by directly refuting them, but by setting them forth in such a way that their absurdity would become clearly apparent’ —Pierre Hadot (‘The Figure of Socrates’ in Philosophy as a Way of Life, trans. Michael Chase, p. 150)
‘Just like ironical Socrates, Eros teaches nothing, for he is ignorant. He does not make people more wise; he makes them other. He, too, is maieutic: he helps souls to engender themselves’ —Pierre Hadot (‘The Figure of Socrates’ in Philosophy as a Way of Life, trans. Michael Chase, p. 163)
‘…it is not enough to consider the obvious, surface meaning of the phrases in an ancient text in order fully to understand it. Rather, we must try to understand why these phrases were written or spoken; we must discover their finality’ —Pierre Hadot (‘Marcus Aurelius’ in Philosophy as a Way of Life, trans. Michael Chase, p. 186)
‘After all, it is not enough merely to repeat some rational principle to oneself, in order to be persuaded by it; everything depends on how you formulate it’ —Pierre Hadot (‘Marcus Aurelius’ in Philosophy as a Way of Life, trans. Michael Chase, p. 201)
‘…though his theories seemed unreliable, his practice not only utterly convinced me but, literally, enchanted me’ —Octavio Paz (afterword to 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei, p. 49)