Ancient Philosophies of Self-cultivation in Greece, India and China

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The main goal of the lecture is to provide a general overview of selected self-cultivation philosophies in ancient Greece and in Asia and to show that the conceptual framework of philosophy as a spiritual exercise and care of the self presented by Pierre Hadot and Michel Foucault can be successfully applied not only to Greek and Roman but also to some extent to Indian and Chinese traditions. We will consider the topic of self-cultivation from a comparative perspective thus showing that the very idea of philosophy is not exclusively a Western notion. Some concepts of Buddhist thought will be presented as well, both in its original Indian context as well as in its later developments in East Asia.

The main goal of the lecture is to provide a general overview of selected philosophies of self-cultivation in ancient Greece and in Asia and to show that the conceptual framework of philosophy as a spiritual exercise and care of the self presented by Pierre Hadot and Michel Foucault can be successfully applied not only to Greek and Roman but also to Indian, Chinese and Buddhist traditions. In order to do this we will read and analyze the most important source texts of selected Greek, Roman and Asian schools of thought, discussing philosophical concepts such as broadly understood care of the self, philosophy as a spiritual practice, therapeia and self-cultivation.

Chronologically we will be limited to broadly understood classical periods of the aforementioned traditions, with the exception of Greek philosophy, where Hellenistic, Roman and Late Ancient periods will also be considered. While this constraint does carry some methodological difficulties, especially with providing a clear definition of the classical period in Asian philosophical traditions, its main purpose is to provide reasonable limitations to the source material discussed.

Our focus will thus be on such authors and texts that can be read and interpreted as a form of self-cultivation philosophy. In the West we will most of all cover Stoic (Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius), Epicurean and Neoplatonic thinkers. We will also discuss the most prominent classical Chinese authors. That will include (but will not be limited to) most important texts of Confucian (the Analects, Mencius, Xunzi) and Daoist (Laozi, Zhuangzi) philosophical traditions. Furthermore we will read and discuss the Bhagavad Gita as well as selected texts of Samkhya and Yoga schools of thought. Finally we will consider some aspects of Buddhist philosophy focusing on its practical aspects and ethics rather than metaphysics and ontology. Buddhist thought will be presented both in its original Indian context as well as in its later developments in East Asia.

While classes have a form of lecture, active participation of students (questions, remarks, suggestions etc.) definitely is encouraged.

Required Readings:

Epictetus, Discourses (many editions)

Dhammapada (many editions)

Gavin F., Martin Ch., The Bhagavad Gita, New York 2015.

Gethin R., The Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford/New York 1998.

Gowans Ch., Self-Cultivation Philosophies in Ancient India, Greece, and China, New York 2021

Hamilton S., Indian Philosophy. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2001.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (many editions)

Seneca, Hardship & Happiness, Chicago 2014

Seneca, Letters on Ethics to Lucilius, Chicago 2015

The Selected Writings of Pierre Hadot. Philosophy as Practice, trans. Sharpe M., Testa F., London 2020

Van Norden, Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, Indianapolis/Cambridge 2005. (selections)

Van Norden B., Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy, Indianapolis/Cambridge 2011.

Further Readings:

Adamson P., Ganeri J., A History of Philosophy Without any Gaps. Classical Indian Philosophy, Oxford 2020.

Burton D., Buddhism. A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation,

Deutsch E., Bontekoe R., (eds.), A Companion to World Philosophies, Malden/Oxford 1999.

Fischer P., Self-Cultivation in Early China, Albany 2022

Ganeri J., Carlisle C., (eds.), Philosophy as Therapeia, Cambridge 2010

Graham A., Disputers of the Tao. Philosophical Argument in Ancient China, La Salle, Illinois 1989.

JeeLoo Liu, An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, Oxford 2006.

Koller J., Asian Philosophies 7th edition, New York 2018.

Lai K., An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, Cambridge 2017

Lai K., Benitez R., Hyun Jin Kim (eds.), Cultivating a Good Life in Early Chinese and Ancient Greek Philosophy, London 2019

McLeod A., Understanding Asian Philosophy, London/New York 2014.

Edelglass W., Carter P-J., McClintock S. (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy, New York 2023.

Schwartz B., The World of Thought in Ancient China, Harvard 1989.

Williams P., Tribe A., Wynne A., Buddhist Thought. A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, London/New York 2012.

Learning outcomes:

Knowledge: Students gain basic knowledge and understanding of crucial concepts and ideas present in selected Asian philosophical traditions.

Abilities: Students learn how to read, interpret and understand the most important source texts of Asian schools of thought.

Social skills: Students are aware of diversity of philosophical traditions and are able to better function in multicultural environments.

Asessment criteria: In order to receive credit all students need to either write an essay on a selected topic or pass an oral exam based on selected readings.

Number of absences: 2 in a semester