Philosophy as a path to transformation: a pragmatist perspective

In the ancient period – Greek and Hellenistic in particular – philosophy was conceived not as a pure intellectual activity geared toward the search for truth, but as a practical exercise of thought that was meant to serve life and aim at self-transformation. The goal was to learn how to conduct a ph...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Fabbrichesi , Rossella
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:Brasil
Institución:Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP)
Repositorio:Cognitio (São Paulo. Online)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/65419
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.pucsp.br/index.php/cognitiofilosofia/article/view/65419
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Peirce
Self-control
Self-transformation
Spiritual exercise
Stoics
Autocontrole
Autotransformação
Exercício espiritual
Estoicos
Descripción
Sumario:In the ancient period – Greek and Hellenistic in particular – philosophy was conceived not as a pure intellectual activity geared toward the search for truth, but as a practical exercise of thought that was meant to serve life and aim at self-transformation. The goal was to learn how to conduct a philosophical life and take care of oneself: especially of one’s speeches and actions. It was not so important to be able to expose a true doctrine, but to put into practice the teachings that were given. This perspective lapses as early as the medieval period, but one may wonder if pragmatist attitude does not reanimate some aspects of it: for example, the grafting of practice into theory, the conception of ideas as plans for action, the reference to truth effects, and the like. In this paper I intend to test this hypothesis, especially with reference to the study Peirce has conducted on the process of “self-control” (the ancients would have said “self-government”, autarkeia) as the basis of ethics, understood as a normative science and the foundation of logic.