My Intellectual History, Part IV

by Peter Saint-Andre

2024-12-06

It's been exactly ten years since the last installment of my "intellectual history", so I figure it's time to say something about changes in my thinking since then.

One trend has been my deepening dedication to philosophy as a way of life, and not to any particular philosophical school. Although I began reading Pierre Hadot's books on philosophy as a way of life around 2011, writing my books on Thoreau (2017) and Nietzsche (2019) definitely reinforced this outlook. Indeed, at root this has always been my approach to the love of wisdom: I've never been enamored of purely theoretical, abstract, or academic philosophy, which is why I decided all those years ago not to pursue a Ph.D. in the subject.

A second trend has been my re-immersion in ancient Greek thought and culture. The Greeks have never been far from my mind, but intensively researching Aristotle's ethics for the last five years has rekindled my appreciation for what they achieved. In addition to all my Aristotle (and Plato) readings, this year I revisited both the Iliad and the Odyssey (twice!) and also started composing an epic poem about Pyrrho and Alexander the Great; next year I'll likely re-read Hesiod, the Greek lyric poets, and all of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides to round out my literary explorations.

Third has been a continued mellowing and moderating of my political perspective. Gone are my days as a fire-breathing libertarian. Although I still favor an evolution toward greater freedom, I have enough intellectual humility at this point to see that societal problems are incredibly complex (as one example, it seems to me that legalization of marijuana, long a hobbyhorse of libertarians, has been far from an unalloyed good). Moreover, I have come to realize that I am powerless to change the political climate; some might find such a realization distressing, but I've found it liberating.

Fourth, over the last two years I've been reading more fiction, supplementing my longtime and continuing practice of reading poetry. During my working years, my exposure to novels, plays, and epics had slowed to a trickle, but of late I've quite enjoyed reading Homer, Virgil, Victor Hugo, George Eliot, and of course the plays of Shakespeare (all three dozen of which I've devoured in the last 12 months).

Mention of "my working years" introduces a fifth trend, as the three decades of my career in Internet technology and business recede into the past: a turn to a more contemplative way of life. Whether I think of it as Hindu vānaprastha or ancient Greek theōria, increasingly I am drawn more and more to research, reflection, and inquiry now that I am freed from the need for nonstop action.

Finally, and related to this contemplative turn, I've been exploring more deeply the vast world of music more. Playing music has always been my favorite form of meditation, ever since I first picked up guitar and bass in my early teens. Lately I've been studying music more seriously, delving further into harmony, listening deeply to pieces of music I'd like to understand (and where possible grasping them from the inside out by learning to play them on guitar or bass), doing a bit of composing, etc.

I expect all six of these trends to broaden and deepen in the coming years.

(Cross-posted at philosopher.coach.)

FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION


Peter Saint-Andre > Journal