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December    3rd

THE PHILOSOPHER AS  AN  ARTISAN OF  LIFE    AND DEATH

“Philosophy does    not claim   to  get a   person  any external    possession. To  do  so  would   be  beyond

its field.  As  wood    is  to  the carpenter,  bronze  to  the sculptor,   so  our own lives   are the proper

material    in  the art of  living.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.15.2

hilosophy is not some idle pursuit appropriate only for academics or the rich. Instead, it is one of the
most essential activities that a human being can engage in. Its purpose, as Henry David Thoreau said
a few thousand years after Epictetus, is to help us “solve the problems of life, not only theoretically but
practically.” This aligns nicely with Cicero’s famous line: “To philosophize is to learn how to die.”
You’re not reading these quotes and doing these thought exercises for fun. Though they may be
enjoyable and help you lighten up, their aim is to help you sculpt and improve your life. And because all
of us have but one life and one death, we should treat each experience like a sculptor with his chisels,
carving until, to paraphrase Michelangelo, we set free the angel in the marble.
We are trying to do this difficult thing—living and dying—as well as we can. And to do that, we must
remember what we’ve learned and the wise words we’ve been given.