In this book of brilliantly erudite and precise discussions, Pierre Hadot explains that for the Ancients philosophy was not reducible to the building of a theoretical system: it was above all a choice about how to live one's life. One of the most influential historians of ancient philosophy in the world today, Hadot is adept at using ancient philosophers to illuminate the relevance of their ideas to contemporary life. In this book, which is an ideal introduction to Hadot's more scholarly "What is Ancient Philosophy?," we learn that to be an Epicurean is not merely to think like one; it is to adopt a way of living where limiting desires is the condition for happiness. Being an Aristotelian, similarly, is to choose a life that involves contemplation, and being a Cynic is to follow Diogenes in his refusal of quotidian convention and the mentality of ordinary people. If so many Ancient philosophers founded schools, Hadot explains, it was precisely because they were proposing how to live life on a daily basis. We learn here that the history of philosophy has been something more than just that of a discourse. The founding texts of Greek philosophy, after all, were notes taken from oral exercises undertaken in concrete circumstances and contexts, most often a dialogue between students and specific interlocutors who meant to shed light on their students' real existence. The immense contribution of this book, which also traces Hadot's own personal itinerary in a touching manner, is to remind us, through direct language and numerous examples, what the theoretical aspect of philosophy often masks: its vital and existential dimensions.

皮埃爾•阿多（Pierre Hadot，1922-2010），法國20世紀著名哲學傢、史學傢與文獻學傢。主要從事古希臘古羅馬思想研究。其著作圍繞西方古代哲學中的精神修煉與作為生活方式的哲學展開，並形成獨具特色的哲學觀念，聞名於世。1982年入選法蘭西學院。1999年獲得法蘭西科學院哲學研究大奬。主要著作：《古代哲學的智慧》、《靈修與古代哲學》、《內心的堡壘》等。