2021-10-18

Last updated Aug 15, 2023

#philosophy

“Philosophy was a mode of existing-in-the-world,which had to be practiced at each instant, and the goal was to transform the whole of the individual’s life.” “Thus, philosophy was a ==way of life==, both in its exercise and effort to achieve wisdom, for real wisdom does not merely cause us to know:it makes us be in a different way.”

Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life

• Knowledge imposes responsibility
• People run away from knowledge because they are afraid of the ==enormous gravity of their own freedom==
  • They see freedom us making us liable to freedom rather than ==enabling us to effect renewal==
  • so they forfeit it
    • Connected to: Cards/The alternative to freedom is unconsciousness
  • What is human is ==to face reality, to constantly and actively seek the truth==, because the demand of our humanity is that we be responsible

1. Experience
   1. our encounter with the moral theory. We approach the theory not as some abstractionism totally removed from our life but ==a truism that addresses us directly==.
2. Significance
   1. The experience is evaluated in terms of its personal significance to us.
   2. We realize that the experience ==speaks to us directly about our own past incidents.==
   3. To reflect is to transform a common encounter into a ==personal experience==; ==experience is not what happens to us, it is what we do about what happens to us.==
   4. The significance of the experience varies for each of us because of our individual differences. Reflection is always personal.
3. Insights 2. Reflection enables us to ==look back to a past incident in our life== because of the present experience. This experience provides a new light with which to view our past incident. 3. Through this backward glance, we gain an ==insight into our private life and into life in general== as we get to understand better or appreciate more deeply our past personal incident.
4. Response
   1. Once we have learned a new insight we should strive to respond by way of a resolve.
   2. The reflection process culminates in the transformation of the insight ==from a lesson in the mind to a power in the will to renew our life. ==
   3. The last moment of the reflection serves the transformative nature of ethics.

TL;DR 1.Crystallize the experience: Identify a particular idea or teaching in the theory that appeals to you in a special way. 2. Highlight its significance: Recall a personal incident which the idea or teaching brings up. ==Let the experience happen to you, let it become your own.== 3. Draw an insight: Learn a lesson that will apply to your personal incident and which you can profit from. 4. Make a response: Resolve to do something good. Allow the insight to make a difference in your life.

• The story of the tortoise and the hare illustrates the advantages of reflecting after every experience.
• To fail to reflect is to forfeit the chance to learn and benefit from the experience.