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Book Review - The art of living: the Stoics on the nature and function of philosophy

John Sellars, The art of living: the Stoics on the nature and function of philosophy. Bristol Classical paperbacks, London: Bristol Classical Press, Second edition, 2009 (First edition, 2003). ISBN-13: 978-1853997242; viii + 228 pp.

This book places itself at the boundary between literary criticism and Ethics, an unusual combination proved here to be very fruitful. The art of living: the Stoics on the nature and function of philosophy is based on John Sellars’s doctoral thesis (University of Warwick, 2001). It first came out in hardback in 2003 and it is very good news for ancient philosophy and classics that monographs like his find a second life in paperback. Duckworth and their imprint Bristol Classical Press must be praised for their excellent decision to embrace this book and include it in their list. Apart from a short preface, the 2003 and the 2009 editions are identical, with even the pagination being preserved.

Sellar’s book treats philosophy as a living practice, an attitude usually only reserved for theological works. His approach brings to life the texts upon which he focuses his attention, namely the works of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. In fact he brings to life not only his chosen authors but the entire pre-Christian world with all its philosophical zest. Another great Stoic, Seneca, is dealt with to a lesser extent but enjoys a substantial enough presence in the book. Apart from presenting philosophy as practice, the author’s main argument is that the Stoic tradition is rooted in the philosophy of Socrates; Socratic irony plays its role in the discussion as it would be expected. The argument of the book is convincing and presented well. Within the main argument, he discusses Aristotle’s reception of Socrates, a secondary question in the book which will be of great interest to students of philosophy. The objections of Sextus Empiricus to a proposed Art of Living is discussed by the author with equal enthusiasm.

The author proves his credentials as a student of philosophy by displaying his broad knowledge of contemporary and modern arguments and schools of thought. He uses a large number of ancient sources upon which he bases his description of philosophy as practice and he tests his conclusions against all the major authorities of scholarship and philosophical thought as the interested reader will be delighted to find. Unlike many converted PhD theses, this monograph is clear in style and does not allow the density of the material effect its readability. At the same time, this is a work of serious and considered scholarship which will satisfy with its precision. I will disagree with previous reviewers of this work who have criticised its inclusion of Greek words: I think this is an asset to the book and it will make it appealing not only to students of philosophy and history but also to lovers of the classical world more broadly. Sellars, incidentally, has a secure appreciation of the Greek language which he uses with good discretion to support his scholarly arguments.

The presentation of the book is extremely pleasing. Considering the challenges the material presents, this is a praiseworthy achievement for both author and publisher. The auxiliary material is well-chosen and extremely helpful and informative. The glossary, the guide to ancient philosophers and the bibliography will be especially useful to Undergraduates and are very well prepared. The voluminous (in some cases they do come half way up the page) and very scholarly footnotes are typeset perfectly and they do not distract from the book’s main themes or effect its style. Any typographical errors in this work are negligible.