Ce mémoire cherche à mieux comprendre le phénomène de la conversion philosophique dans l'Antiquité, plus particulièrement dans le stoïcisme impérial (Sénèque, Épictète, Marc Aurèle). Après une analyse conceptuelle de la conversion qui s'appuie sur des sources contemporaines, ce mémoire fait l'étude des interprétations de la conversion stoïcienne par Pierre Hadot et Michel Foucault. Cette étude se conclut sur le constat de problèmes importants dans ces deux interprétations. Ce mémoire poursuit avec une analyse lexicologique des termes grec (epistrophè) et latin (conversio) pouvant désigner la conversion dans le corpus stoïcien. Cette analyse se termine sur un autre constat d'échec, rejetant ces termes comme des traductions du concept de conversion. Le dernier chapitre de ce mémoire montre qu'en inscrivant le stoïcisme et Épictète en particulier dans la tradition protreptique socratique on peut mieux comprendre la conversion stoïcienne.

Thesis advisor: Brian D. Robinette / This project attempts to respond to Charles Taylor's invitation, made in A Secular Age, for "new and unprecedented itineraries" capable of guiding seekers toward an encounter with God. Today, many Westerners find belief in God difficult if not impossible. This essay begins with an overview of Taylor's secularization narrative and explores the causes and pressures that have made belief in the Transcendent problematic. To respond to Taylor's summons for new itineraries, I turn in Chapters 2-4 to the work of philosopher William Desmond. After introducing readers to Desmond and locating him on a landscape dominated by phenomenologists, I introduce Desmond's metaphysical philosophy and argue that this his thought can be approached as a form of spiritual exercise capable of reawakening a sense of the Transcendent. In Chapters 3 and 4 I engage the work of Pierre Hadot to show how Desmond's philosophy can work to transform the way one perceives the world. Read within this framework, I believe Desmond's metaxological metaphysics provides a series of spiritual exercises needed in an increasingly secular age. Read in this light, metaxology becomes less a philosophy about which one must be informed than a philosophy capable of forming readers to perceive reality anew. In Chapter 5, I draw out some of the theological implications for this interpretation of Desmond's work. In the conclusion, I survey the project and indicate what I consider to be the theological achievement of Desmond's project and potential openings for future engagement with his work. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

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No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Simone de Magalhães Vieira Barcelos - 2017.pdf: 2379413 bytes, checksum: 0d1d6e71309b33cdae85ca9d6f827c9a (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-11-30 / Este estudo insere-se na Linha de Pesquisa Fundamentos da Educação e Processos Educativos do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, da Universidade Federal de Goiás. Por reconhecer que os homens são contingentes, imperfeitos e mutáveis, a Antiguidade clássica criou um movimento espiritual de busca da excelência humana, de confirmação da humanidade do homem. Essa tese se propõe a investigar a dimensão formativa da tradição da Antiguidade clássica, à luz da contribuição de obras de alguns autores e de estudiosos dessa cultura e, ao fazê-lo, pensar a relação entre a filosofia e a formação, os estudos de Pierre Hadot sobre a filosofia antiga como maneira de viver e exercício espiritual. Esses trabalhos, que abriram novos horizontes e caminhos de investigação, sem dúvida pressupõem, ampliam e aprofundam determinados conceitos e compreensão da existência humana, da filosofia, da educação e da formação como paideía. Compreender a origem, o desenvolvimento e a realização da filosofia na Antiguidade como forma de pensar, que se dedica à busca da verdade das coisas humanas e divinas, à compreensão da natureza do homem, de seu destino e finalidade, constitui a centralidade de nossos esforços. A filosofia e a formação são fenômenos distintos, mas indissociáveis no movimento de sua realização. Ao mostrar que a filosofia é maneira de viver, Pierre Hadot estuda os exercícios espirituais como um modo de realização da formação do homem, de sua transformação interior com vistas na excelência moral. Em sua esteira reconhecemos as figuras do sábio, de Sócrates e do imperador romano Marco Aurélio como fundamentais no movimento de elevação espiritual e de atenção a si mesmo. Estudamos o sentido e a importância dos exercícios espirituais na mobilização das capacidades que, inerentes à natureza da alma, fazem com que o homem, no sentido de ánthropos, em grego, e homo, em latim, possa alcançar a consciência de si e dedicar-se à confirmação de sua humanidade. Procuramos mostrar que o pensamento dos gregos e latinos da Antiguidade se constitui num longo e rigoroso trabalho intelectual, autêntico exercício espiritual, expressivo de uma intenção educativa que se revela no agir, no movimento de tornar-se humano, de fazer-se homem. / Este estudo insere-se na Linha de Pesquisa Fundamentos da Educação e Processos Educativos do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, da Universidade Federal de Goiás. Por reconhecer que os homens são contingentes, imperfeitos e mutáveis, a Antiguidade clássica criou um movimento espiritual de busca da excelência humana, de confirmação da humanidade do homem. Essa tese se propõe a investigar a dimensão formativa da tradição da Antiguidade clássica, à luz da contribuição de obras de alguns autores e de estudiosos dessa cultura e, ao fazê-lo, pensar a relação entre a filosofia e a formação, os estudos de Pierre Hadot sobre a filosofia antiga como maneira de viver e exercício espiritual. Esses trabalhos, que abriram novos horizontes e caminhos de investigação, sem dúvida pressupõem, ampliam e aprofundam determinados conceitos e compreensão da existência humana, da filosofia, da educação e da formação como paideía. Compreender a origem, o desenvolvimento e a realização da filosofia na Antiguidade como forma de pensar, que se dedica à busca da verdade das coisas humanas e divinas, à compreensão da natureza do homem, de seu destino e finalidade, constitui a centralidade de nossos esforços. A filosofia e a formação são fenômenos distintos, mas indissociáveis no movimento de sua realização. Ao mostrar que a filosofia é maneira de viver, Pierre Hadot estuda os exercícios espirituais como um modo de realização da formação do homem, de sua transformação interior com vistas na excelência moral. Em sua esteira reconhecemos as figuras do sábio, de Sócrates e do imperador romano Marco Aurélio como fundamentais no movimento de elevação espiritual e de atenção a si mesmo. Estudamos o sentido e a importância dos exercícios espirituais na mobilização das capacidades que, inerentes à natureza da alma, fazem com que o homem, no sentido de ánthropos, em grego, e homo, em latim, possa alcançar a consciência de si e dedicar-se à confirmação de sua humanidade. Procuramos mostrar que o pensamento dos gregos e latinos da Antiguidade se constitui num longo e rigoroso trabalho intelectual, autêntico exercício espiritual, expressivo de uma intenção educativa que se revela no agir, no movimento de tornar-se humano, de fazer-se homem.

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There are three central orientations, or modes, forming a “tripod” as it were, that grounds philosophy as a cultural activity. The two commonly known modes are, first philosophical geniuses who make models of reality in their “solitary burrows” (such as a Kant and Peirce); and, second, philosophical wanderers who have an embodied praxis, performing wisdom wherever they travel (such as Diogenes of Sinope and Takuan Soho). There is however another primary and largely neglected mode of philosophy which is mutually reinforced ethical praxis rooting in a shared cosmopolitan place. In this dissertation, I characterize and defend the neglected mode of philosophy, that I call “philosophical community,” by describing the constellation of metaethical principles — general, axiological, cultural, and dialectical — that articulate and promote its values. My philosophical methodology is radically empirical philosophy of culture. The principles will be drawn from an interpretation of the whole of philosophical communal experience, considered diachronically, or globally and historically. These principles are then organized as a synchronic (present focused) coordinate whole. By “principle,” at the very least, I mean a hypothetical ground presupposed in successful inquiry. I take “community” in the broad, Roycean spirit of those relationships that build an increasing determinacy of meaning in the universe, (i.e. a community of interpretation). A philosophical community, then, is not reducible to a collection of people but can be thought of as made of a special kind of community of interpretation, as it shares some sort of place. Taken together, this constellation of principles can help us refine for ourselves a vision of the best of philosophical community life, which should also help us frame a new “brocard” for this mode of philosophy in the twenty-first century.

This essay compares three contemporary interpretations of Stoic philosophy with an academic account of Stoicism provided by Pierre Hadot. The comparison is made by performing a discourse analytical reading of three books about contemporary Stoicism, focusing on the presentation of Stoicism from two perspectives: Stoicism as a philosophy of life, and the metaphysical constituents of Stoic practices and principles. This is then compared with Pierre Hadot’s theory, Philosophy as a Way of Life, and his account of Stoic practices and principles underlying metaphysical constituents. This study is situated within an area of research that links philosophy and the study of religion. The study discovered that the contemporary interpretations of Stoicism differ in their relationship to Pierre Hadot's academic account of Stoicism. One book does not relate to Hadot's account of Stoic metaphysics at all, nor to his theory Philosophy as a Way of life, due to a lack of general discussion of Stoic theory. The other two books relate to Hadot’s academic account, but to varying degrees. This study's structure includes a summary of the current field of research, followed by a theoretical discussion of Stoic philosophy, metaphysics, and Pierre Hadot's theory. Thereafter follows a description of the method used in the study and the following analysis demonstrates how the interpretation of the texts was conducted. The study concludes with the results of the analysis and a discussion of the findings' implications for this area of research.

L’objectif poursuivi dans ce mémoire de maîtrise est de proposer une réflexion sur la problématique trop souvent ignorée de la « nature » de la philosophie. Défendant une position historiciste et non essentialiste, la philosophie ne pouvant être comprise, définie et expliquée qu’à partir de ses formes historiques, j’ai décidé d’étudier la présence de la philosophie dans la vie et dans l’oeuvre d’Albert Camus, surtout reconnu pour être un homme de lettres. La pensée de Camus se positionnant contre la philosophie abstraite et théorique de ses contemporains, il sera question de l’examiner à la lumière des travaux de Pierre Hadot sur la philosophie antique. La comparaison avec les Anciens sera précieuse sur plus d’un plan. Elle prouvera que Camus réactualise l’idéal de la philosophie comme mode de vie, dont les thèses directrices seront explicitées dans les prolégomènes. J’espère ainsi faire voir la possibilité d’une conception « moderne » de la philosophie ancrée dans la pratique. Le présent travail se divisera en trois parties : la première visera à clarifier le sens des concepts et des différentes parties du Mythe de Sisyphe; la deuxième tâchera de rapprocher sa philosophie de l’absurde des thèses directrices de la philosophie comme mode de vie, offrant une interprétation novatrice de son Sisyphe; la troisième exposera succinctement sa philosophie de la révolte à partir d’une analyse de L’Homme révolté, de façon à démontrer que sa morale s’inscrit aussi dans le sillage de cet idéal philosophique. / The purpose of this master’s thesis is to propose a reflection on the all-too-often ignored issue of philosophy’s “nature”. Defending a historicist and non-essentialist position since philosophy cannot be understood, defined and explained without studying its historical forms, I decided to examine the presence of philosophy in the life and in the work of Albert Camus, who is essentially known as a man of letters. The thinking of Camus, which is positioned against the abstract and theoretical philosophy of his contemporaries, will be studied in light of the works of Pierre Hadot on ancient philosophy. The comparison with the classical Greeks will be precious in many ways. It will prove that Camus extends the ancient ideal of philosophy as a way of life, which guiding theses will be presented in the prolegomena. I therefore wish to bring forward the possibility of a “modern” conception of philosophy that is anchored in practicality. This research will be divided into three parts : the first will aim to clarify the meaning of the concepts and various parts of the Myth of Sisyphus; the second will seek to liken his philosophy of the absurd to the guiding theses of philosophy as a way of life, offering an innovative interpretation of his Sisyphus; the third will briefly present its philosophy of revolt from an analysis of The Rebel in order to demonstrate that its moral can also be likened to philosophy as a way of life.

La présente étude a pour but d’examiner la place qu’occupe l’art de l’interprétation dans la trajectoire du philosophe français Pierre Hadot. Celui-ci est connu avant tout pour avoir redéfini la philosophie comme un mode de vie fondé sur la pratique d’exercices spirituels. Or il a indiqué dans des entretiens où il est revenu sur son propre parcours que c’étaient les difficultés posées par la lecture des textes anciens qui l’avaient poussé à formuler cette thèse. L’hypothèse que nous défendons est que l’on peut retracer à partir de cette indication l’itinéraire herméneutique de Pierre Hadot et ainsi offrir un éclairage nouveau sur la philosophie comme manière de vivre. Cet itinéraire prend sa source dans un moment de conversion, qu’il faut associer à sa formation à l’histoire et à la lecture, concomitante, des Recherches philosophiques de Wittgenstein. Il se présente ensuite selon deux voies qui sont à la fois concurrentes et complémentaires. Pierre Hadot ouvre d’abord une enquête au sujet des métaphores et des images, qui l’amène à forger le concept de contresens créateur, lequel trouve notamment son inspiration dans la métaphorologie de Hans Blumenberg. Il développe dans la foulée une réflexion sur la notion d’auteur qui le conduit à s’intéresser aux notions de sens et de signification telles que mises en avant par Eric Donald Hirsch et à formuler lui-même l’idée d’une « coincidentia oppositorum » entre l’interprétation objective du texte et son appropriation subjective. La redéfinition de la philosophie que développe Pierre Hadot dans sa pensée plus tardive peut être considérée comme étant le fruit de la convergence entre cet itinéraire herméneutique et l’itinéraire spirituel qui remonte à ses années de jeunesse et à l’expérience du sentiment océanique. Elle est révélatrice de l’influence qu’a pu exercer sur lui sa formation théologique, notamment à travers les œuvres du cardinal John Henry Newman et du théologien luthérien Rudolf Bultmann. Notre recherche a par ailleurs pour résultat de montrer le rôle de fil conducteur que joue dans l’itinéraire herméneutique de Pierre Hadot la notion de topos, notamment sous l’influence de la topique historique d’Ernst Robert Curtius. L’exercice spirituel, notion centrale de la philosophie comme manière de vivre, se présente au bout du compte comme un topos pratique, offrant une forme stable qui est néanmoins susceptible d’être réinventée dans le temps et qui peut servir de support à la conversion philosophique pour des générations successives. / Our goal in the present thesis is to examine what role is devoted to the art of interpretation in the trajectory of the French philosopher Pierre Hadot. Pierre Hadot is known, first and foremost, for his redefinition of philosophy as a way of life grounded in the practice of spiritual exercises. He stipulated in conversations where he looked back on his own personal and intellectual journey that the difficulties he found in old texts were what led him to defend this thesis. We argue that it is possible, based on that observation, to sketch Pierre Hadot’s hermeneutical itinerary and thus to shed a new light on philosophy as a way of life. The origin of this itinerary is to be found in a time of conversion related to his training as a historian and the coincident reading of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. It unfolds in two paths that compete with one another at the same time as they complement one another. Pierre Hadot first opens an investigation regarding metaphors and images, which leads him to draw up the concept of creative mistake (contresens créateur) and that finds part of its inspiration in the metaphorology of Hans Blumenberg. He then develops a defense of the author that is related to the notions of meaning and significance as they present themselves in the thought of Eric Donald Hirsch and formulates the idea of a “coincidentia oppositorum” between the objective interpretation of a text and its subjective appropriation. The redefinition of philosophy that we find in Pierre Hadot’s later thinking can be seen as the product of a convergence between that hermeneutical itinerary and the spiritual itinerary that goes back to his youth and the experience of the oceanic feeling (sentiment océanique). It is revelatory of the influence his theological training had upon him and particularly the works of Cardinal John Henry Newman and Lutheran theologian Rudolf Bultmann. Another result of our investigation is to show how the concept of topos acts as a unifying thread in Pierre Hadot’s hermeneutical itinerary, in part due to the influence of Ernst Robert Curtius’ historical topics. The spiritual exercises that are so central to philosophy as a way of life in the end present themselves as practical topoi, whose form is stable and that nevertheless can be reinvented through time and thus can be the support of philosophical conversion from one generation to the next.