Read more
"Since Socrates, philosophy has been concerned with how we ought to live. But the sense in which philosophy must be an ineluctably practical activity has become obscured. How could philosophy have ever conceived of itself as centrally concerned with its own therapeutic value? In
Pursuits of Wisdom, John Cooper brings this crucial question back to life. This marvelous book will shape the way we think about and engage with ancient philosophical traditions."
--Jonathan Lear, University of Chicago"With unparalleled learning, argumentative depth, and great originality, Cooper presents a thorough rethinking of the major Greek moral philosophers. He revitalizes their visions of philosophy as a way of life and shows how they present a powerful challenge to current moral philosophy. The Greeks will never look the same again."
--J. B. Schneewind, author of The Invention of Autonomy: A History of Modern Moral Philosophy"John Cooper has had a profound impact on the scholarly study of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, particularly in its moral dimension. In this new work, he introduces this period to a far wider audience. His sympathy and enthusiasm for the pursuits of wisdom in antiquity, and the subtlety of his understanding of these philosophical schools, will make this book a classic of its kind."
--Richard Kraut, author of What Is Good and Why: The Ethics of Well-Being"The product of a lifetime of study and thought,
Pursuits of Wisdom is a detailed and rigorous analysis of the foundations of the major schools of ancient ethics in the overall philosophical systems of their authors. John Cooper's masterwork will thus be indispensable for every student of ancient philosophy in general as well as ancient ethics. But Cooper's study is also indispensable for all students of modern ethics since so much of it originates in these ancient schools. In other words, Cooper's book is simply indispensable."
--Paul Guyer, University of Pennsylvania"This book not only discusses philosophy as a way of life, but manifests many of the virtues such a life might be hoped to embody. There is scarcely an instance in which Cooper's sureness of grasp, vivacity of expression, or clarity of purpose falters. The book invites a wide readership, and should receive it."
--C.D.C. Reeve, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
List of contents
About the author
John M. Cooper is the Henry Putnam University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He is the general editor of the authoritative English-language edition of Plato's complete writings, and the author of
Reason and Emotion and
Knowledge, Nature, and the Good (both Princeton), among other books.
Summary
A reinterpretation of ancient philosophy that recovers the long Greek and Roman tradition of philosophy as a complete way of life - and not simply an intellectual discipline. It traces how, for many ancient thinkers, philosophy was not just to be studied or even used to solve particular practical problems.
Additional text
"[T]he book as a whole offers a comprehensive overview of ancient ethics that is sensitive to historical context and that tries to comprehend ancient philosophy on its own terms. Many readers will learn a lot from it."---John Sellars, Mind
