P

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.