36
Introduction
unsettling today as it was centuries ago. In the last analysis, that is what makes Pierre Hadot not just a consummate historian of philosophy, but also a philosopher for our own times.
Arnold I. Davidson
NOTES
Pierre Hadot, Exercices spin"tuels et philosophie antique, 2nd edn, Paris 1987.
2 Pierre Hadot, La Citadel/e interieure. Introduction aux Pensees de Marc Aurele, Paris 1 992.
3 Pierre Hadot, Titres et travau.t de Pierre Hadot, privately printed for the College de France, p. 9.
4 Pierre Hadot, "Patristiquc Latinc," Prob/emes el melhodes d 'hisloire des religions, Melanges publies par la Section des Sciences re/igieuses a /'occasion du centenaire de
/'Ecole pratique des Hau/es Etudes, Paris 1968, pp. 21 1-13. Contresens is a central concept in Hadot's interpretation of the history of exegetical thought. It covers strict cases of mistranslation as well as more general phenomena of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. I return to this aspect of Hadot's thought in what follows.
5 Hadot, 1i'tres el lravaw:, p. 8.
6 Hadot, "Patristique Latine," p. 2 1 2, and Pierre Hadot, "Patristique," in Encyclopedia U11iversalis, vol. 1 2, p. 608, Paris, 1972. Among other texts of Augustine, see Confessions, IX, 4, 1 1 .
7 Pierre Hadot, Comples rend11s des conferences donnees a /'Ecole pratique des Haules Etudes de 1964 a 1980, privately printed. I have paraphrased the compte rendu from 1 964- 1 965. The quotation is from pp. 2-3.
8 Pierre Hadot, "Platon et Plotin dans trois sermons de saint Ambrose,'' Revue des eludes la1ines XXXIV ( 1 956), p. 209, n. 5 .
9 Hadot, "Patristique,'' p. 608.
IO Pierre Hadot, "La fin du paganisme," in H.-Ch. Peuch, ed., Histoire des religi01n, vol. II, pp. IOl-7, Paris 1 972.
1 1 Ibid, p. 109. See also Margherita Guarducci, II primato de/la Chiesa di Roma.
Docmnenti, rijlessioni confenne, Milan
,
1 99 1 , pp. 85-7.
12 Hadot, "La fin du paganisme," p. I JO.
1 3 Ibid, pp. 1 07-8.
14 Ibid, p. 1 08. See also Edouard des Places, "Numenius et Eusebe de Cesaree,'' in Etudes platonicie1111es 1929-1979, Leiden 1981, esp. pp 322
.
-5 .
1 5 Hadot, "La fin du paganisme,'' p. 1 1 1 .
1 6 Ibid, pp. JOB and 105. Also, Pierre Hadot, "Theologie, exegese, revelation, ecriture, dans la philosophic grecque," in Michel Tardieu, ed., Les reg/es de
/'interpretation, Paris 1 987.
17 Hadot, "La fin du paganisme," pp. 83-4, 1 09.
18 Hadot, "Theologie, exegcse, revelation," p. 14.
1 9 Ibid, p. 22.
Introduction
37
20 In trying to summarize Hadot's very complex discussion, without distorting it, I have mainly followed "L'etre et l'etant dans le neoplatonisme,'' in Etudts ntoplatonidtnnts, Neuchitel 1973; ''Theologie, exegese, reJetation," esp.
pp. 19 2
-
0; and "Philosophy, Exegesis, and Creative Mistakes," this volume. See also Pierre Hadot, Porphyrt ti Victorinus, 2 vols, Paris 1 968.
21 Hadot, "Theologie, exegese, revelation," p. 20.
22 Ibid.
23 Hadot, "L'etre et l'etant dans le neoplatonisme," pp. 34-5.
24 Hadot, ''Theologie, exegese, revelation, .. p. 20.
25 Hadot, "L'etre et l'etant dans le neoplatonisme," pp. 34-5; Pierre Hadot, "La distinction de l'etre et de l'etant dans le 'De Hebdomadibus' de Boece,'' in Miscellanea Mtdiaevalia, vol. 2, Berlin 1 963; and Pierre Hadot, "Fom1a essendi.
Interpretation philologique et interpretation philosophique d'une formule de Boece,'' Les Etudts dassiques XXXVII ( 1 970), PP• 143-56. Hadot also explicitly relates this distinction to Heidegger's writings; see Hadot, "L'etre et l'etant dans le neoplatonisme, .. p. 27.
26 Pierre Hadot, "Heidegger et Plotin," Critiqut 145 ( 1 959), p. 542.
27 Sec Hadot's discussion in "Forms of Life and Forms of Discourse in Ancient Philosophy," this volume, especially pp. 65-6.
28 Ibid, pp. 61-2.
29 For the quoted phrase, see Hadot, Titres ti lravaux, p. 23.
30 Hadot, "Patristique Latine," p. 2 1 8.
3 1 Ibid, pp. 2 1 6- 1 7.
32 Margherita Guarducci, "La Crittografia mistica e i graffiti vaticani," Archeologia Classica XIII ( 1 961), p. 236, my emphasis.
33 Margherita Guarducci, "Dal Gioco letterale alla crittografia mistica," in Serini see/ti sulla religio11e grtca t romana e sul cristianesimo, Leiden 1983, pp. 42 1 -2.
34 Ibid, p. 441 . On the relationship between the three teeth of the E and the symbol of the key see also Margherita Guarducci, "Ancora sul misterioso E di Delfi," in Scrilli see/ti.
35 Margherita Guarducci, "La Criuografia mistica," p. 2 1 9.
36 Guarducci, // primato de/la Chiesa di Roma, pp. 126-7.
37 Quoted above, p. 8.
38 Guarducci, "Dal Gioco letterale alla crittografia mistica," p. 427.
39 Ibid, p. 428.
40 On the resort to lapidary error and accident, see Guarducci, "La Crittografia mistica," pp. 203-10.
41 For a superb example, see ibid, p. 206.
42 Qµoted above, p. 8.
43 Hadot, La Citadelk interieure, pp. 39-40. Sec also Pierre Hadot, "Les Pe11sees de Marc Aurele," Bulletin dt /'Association Gui/lame Bude (June 198 1 ), pp. 1 83--4.
44 1-ladot, La Citadcl/e i"1erie11re, p. 41 .
45 Ibid, pp. 311- �2.
4t1 Pierre I lild111 1 "Unc de tics l'emrc•s de Marc Aurclc: les rrois Topoi philosophiques
38
Introduction
scion Epictete," in Exmices spirituels, p. 13S. This essay was originally published in 1 978.
47 Hadot, La Citadelle interiture, pp. 40- 1 , 46-7. See also Hadot, "Les Pensees de Marc Aurcle,'' pp. 1 83-4.
48 Hadot, La Citadelle interieure, pp. 47, 49.
49 Ibid, p. 49.
SO Ibid.
S t Hadot, "Les Pensees de Marc Aurcle," p. 1 8S. See also Hadot, Titres et travaur, p. 29.
S2 Hadot, La Citadelle interieure, pp. 8S-6, 98-106. Sec also "Marcus Aurelius," this volume. Hadot has argued that, before Marcus, Epictetus was the only Stoic to have distinguished between three activities or functions of the soul. See Hadot, La Citadel/e i11terieure, pp. 8S, 99, 14S.
S3 Ibid, pp. 1 06-lS. See also Pierre Hadot, "Philosophic, discours philosophique, et divisions de la philosophic chez les stoiciens," Revue internationale de la philosophie 178 ( 1 99 1 ), pp. 20S-19.
S 4 Hadot, La Citadelle interieure, p. 1 06. I will return to Hadot's discussion of the distinction between philosophical discourse and philosophy.
SS Hadot, "Une de des Pensees de Marc Aurclc," p. l JS.
S6 Hadot, la Citadelle interieure, p. 62.
S7 Hadot, "Les Pensees de Marc Aurele," p. 1 87. See also Hadot, "Une de des Pensees de Marc Aurele," p. I SO.
S8 The words quoted are from the quotation above, p. 8.
S9 Hadot, Titres et travau.\', p. 1 2. See also "Marcus Aurelius," this volume, p. 1 86.
60 Hadot, La Citadelle interieure, p. 10. Hadot has applied these remarks to other ancient works. See Hadot, Titres el trava11l·, p. 1 3; and "Forms of Life and Forms of Discourse in Ancient Philosophy," this volume, pp. 6S-6.
61 Hadot, la Citadelle i11terieure, pp. 262-7S. See also Pierre Hadot, "Marc Aurele etait-il opiomane?," in E. Lucchesi and H.D. SatTrey, eds, Memorial Andre-Jean Festugiere, Geneva 1 984.