THE FRUITS OF PHILOSOPHY

[Philosophia] animam format et fabricat, vitam disponit, actiones regit, agenda et omittenda demonstrate sedet ad gubernaculum et per ancipitia fluctuantium derigit cursum.

(‘Philosophy shapes and constructs the soul, arranges life, governs conduct, shows what is to be done and what omitted, sits at the helm and directs our course as we waver amidst uncertainties.’) Seneca

It is central to the ancient Greek conception of philosophy that it provides human beings with the way to lead a better life. A significant part of the philosophy of both Plato and Aristotle is concerned with laying out the framework for human fulfilment. For Plato (in some of his writings) the good life turns out actually to consist in philosophical theorizing, while Aristotle vacillates between this conception and a more down-to-earth vision of ordinary ‘practical wisdom’, in which, nonetheless, the achievement of the good life depends, at its deepest level, on the systematic exercise of reason.