Philosophy as Life Path

Conventional wisdom regarding philosophy - even among philosophers themselves - is that it is a school of thought whose purpose is to examine other schools of thought, scientific or ethical, in order to assay their reliability. Since its beginnings, however, philosophy has meant the search for the wisdom that is born of life experience and which is transmitted through spiritual exercise, one aspect of which was the creation of strictly theoretical approaches. This book illustrates the motives for the long-standing neglect of this important dimension as well as the reasons why its reconceptualization today - in a format appropriate to modern realities - is both possible and exhilarating. This volume proposes a renewed approach to philosophy, an approach whose integration of theory and biography draws from philosophy's rich origins but which also unifies the truths behind these new philosophical approaches - for example, in private therapy or group formation - which in recent decades have spread so rapidly in Europe and throughout the world.