On Philosophy as a Spiritual Exercise

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

   PDF

2. Thinking and Life

   • Philip Goodchild

   Pages 1-21

3. Ends and Illusions

   • Philip Goodchild

   Pages 23-45

4. Hypocrisy

   • Philip Goodchild

   Pages 47-65

5. Dispositions and Interests

   • Philip Goodchild

   Pages 67-87

6. Mutual Attention

   • Philip Goodchild

   Pages 89-105

7. Death and Love

   • Philip Goodchild

   Pages 107-140

8. Conclusion

   • Philip Goodchild

   Pages 141-151

9. Back Matter

   Pages 153-186

   PDF

What if self-questioning could provoke an extreme attentiveness to a rich inner life? In pursuit of this question, a mixed group of highly fallible thinkers gather together in the north of England. Will they be able to respond to the actual events of their lives, and reinvent philosophy as a collective spiritual exercise?

• death
• England
• event
• philosophy
• Socrates
• Symposium

"This excellent introduction to the idea of philosophy as a spiritual exercise or 'way of life' engages us from the start through its mixture of literary genres and the charm of its writing which nevertheless carries the charge of a compelling passion. Goodchild recalls philosophers to their ancient vocation: to examine and expose assumptions that shape people's lives, sometimes disastrously. He asks whether the failure of philosophers to examine and expose their own assumptions has brought them into collusion with, and uncritical bondage to, conceptions of life, reason, and value which have had terrible consequences, moral and political, economic and ecological." - Michael McGhee, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Liverpool, UK

"Very few writers today are willing, in an age of conformity and uniformity, to experiment. How rare it is to read a book that is both original in thought and style. Using Plato's Symposium as his guide, Goodchild reinvigorates the original practice of philosophy for our times as a spiritual journey of self-questioning and discovery." - William Large, President of the British Society of Phenomenology, UK

Philip Goodchild is Professor of Religion and Philosophy in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the author of Gilles Deleuze and the Question of Philosophy, Deleuze and Guattari: An Introduction to the Politics of Desire, Capitalism and Religion: The Price of Piety, and Theology of Money. He is also currently a Senior Fellow of the Rethinking Capitalism Initiative, University of California Santa Cruz, USA.

Policies and ethics