On the question of what is the essence of philosophy, Hadot returns to the original ancient understanding of philosophy as a spiritual exercise for a better, philosophical life. But such an understanding of philosophy also implies a different approach to the history of philo sophy, which on the one hand must be philologically grounded and contextualised (and therefore not arbitrary), and on the other hand, the reading of philosophy also has the sense of a spiritual exercise for today’s reader, since it also has an impact on his own life, on his own attainment of a better life. In this way, philosophy also has an educational and therapeutic role. Hadot stresses the balancing between selfknowledge and knowledge of the world, the whole, including the transcendent, and also between the utilitarian Promethean and poetic Orphic attitudes.
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