Philosophy as Ways of Life or Plato’s Philosophical Theatre

Initial Remarks

Abstract

This article aims to show how Plato does not merely propose a single way of life as a paradigm of his philosophy but instead thinks about philosophical activity in its diversity of ways of life embodied in different characters created by him and who stage different philosophical positions. I will illustrate this briefly by referring to Euthydemus, Plato’s most significant protreptic writing. Finally, I conclude by making some observations about the work of P. Hadot and showing how his generalization of thinking about ancient philosophy as a way of life cannot elucidate the different strategies present in the Platonic dialogues.gues.