One of the things that I have always enjoyed about the Hellenistic philosophies, and what has drawn me to them, is how they posit themselves as a framework for living your life. Not only that, the whole point of philosophy is to make you think and act in ways that transform you, so you can become the best version of yourself.

As such, one way you can look at philosophy, or rather, how to live a philosophical life, is that it is a practical exercise in improving and transforming yourself. 

How this is expressed is a central question for how we live our lives.

Who do I want to be?

This leads to a range of other questions: How should I act? What should I focus on? Where should my attention be? What does a person in my circumstances, at this point in time, need to do in order to move towards the life that I live?

This gives us the idea that living a good life is about using a number of different skills. A career takes skills. Navigating family relationships and circumstances takes its own set of skills. Hobbies require a range of different skills. Fitness has a skill set, and so forth.

Ancient philosophies took up the idea that we want to live a life of eudaimonia (fulfilled, happy, well).

For the Stoics, this is taken to be that the end point (telos), is this: to live a smooth life. This has been expanded and expressed as to live according to nature or virtue, It means to live in harmony with oneself, to live in harmony with others, and to live in harmony with the cosmos that we are in.

Philosophy is not about quotes that you memorise or a label that you give yourself. To live a philosophical life affects all aspects of your life, including how you grow your beard, how you walk, how you talk, interact and speak with others, to name a few. 

A philosophy of life is a philosophy of action. It is about what you do, rather than what you say. 

We live our philosophy, or we don’t. 

What’s clear is that we need knowledge.

For Socrates, we seek this knowledge so that we can transform our lives.

”Are you not ashamed that you give your attention to acquiring as much money as possible, and similarly with reputation and honour, and give not attention or thought to truth and understanding and the perfection of the soul.” Apology, 29d-e.

From this, we get the idea that living our life becomes an art form, something which the Stoics take on and expand. 

Types of Art

Plato’s Socrates gives us further thoughts on the different types of art (or skill, craft, expertise – all of which are translations of techne) that exist. In the Gorgias, a discussion takes place on the five categories of art that we can have. For this discussion, I have relied heavily on the work of John Sellars in his book, The Art of Living.

Broadly speaking, five types of art are uncovered:

1. Productive
2. Acquisitive
3. Performative
4. Theoretical
5. Stochastic

Productive art produces things. This is the shoe maker producing a pair of shoes. The excellence or mastery of the art is based on the quality of the shoe that is produced. You either produce an excellent shoe, or you don’t. You produce a great meal to eat, or you don’t. 

Acquisitive is about using your skills to acquire something. You don’t produce or construct, but you obtain something. An example of this is the fisherman who returns home with a basket full of fish. This is where you see the mastery. You come back with a basket of fish, or you don’t.

Performance is where mastery is judged in reference to a correct performance. You sing the song and hit all of the notes, or you do a flawless dance routine. There isn’t a product or outcome that you see, rather you have to look at the performance itself, how the person moves, sings, dances.

Theoretical knowledge is knowledge for the sake of knowing. Examples given include geometry and astronomy. 

The final art explored is stochastic. This is an art that aims at a distinct goal. The important piece here is that we are aiming at something, rather than making a guarantee or requirement that this is achieved. An example is a doctor. They use their expertise to examine and treat the patient. This part of the process could be exceptional, yet it does not guarantee the health (the aim) of the patient. They can still not recover or get worse. Similarly, an archer can be excellent with the form and bearing that they use and release the arrow, but they may not hit the target due to many external factors. Thus, whilst the person conducting the art can be skilled and a master, it does not mean that there will be a successful outcome.

Philosophy is an Art

If philosophy is an art, what type is it?

Chrysippus stated that this art (of life) is philosophy and the philosopher is the physician of the soul. This art is directed towards the transformation of the soul into a good state, developing its excellence, just as medicine transforms the state of the body for health.

The Stoics believe that virtue (nature, wisdom) alone is the only good. Within us we have everything we need for eudaimonia (happiness and wellbeing) if we apply ourselves correctly. So whilst a medical analogy is useful when we look at treating the disease of our souls, it does not mean that life is a stochastic art as the outcomes under this art are not guaranteed.

The Stoics realised this as well. Cicero reports that for the Stoics, “we do not consider that wisdom resembles navigation or medicine, but is more like the gestures just mentioned, and like dancing, in that the actual exercise is the skill itself, and does not aim at an external object” (Fin, 3.24).

Unlike medicine, the goal isn’t outside of us. The act of living wisely is success. Therefore wisdom, the art of living that guarantees eudaimonia, is a performative art like dancing. 

The goal is identical to the activity of practicing the art of living itself. 

Life as a Performance

To look at our performance in an excellent life, we should consider our place within the cosmos and use this as a grounding factor in what we do. We are a being in the world that is responding to what is happening around us.

As such, we can think of the idea of having different scenes or domains of our lives that we enter and exit, and then think about what is required. As an example, when I finish work, I enter a new scene of the house and that has its own requirements of what appropriate (and correct) actions are for me based on my own place within the cosmos. I’m a father and husband returning home after a long day at work. It involves me spending time with and giving my attention to my wife and daughter, being present and not distracted, playing and laughing. 

My performance is that of a husband and a father, and each day, with proper care and attention, I can improve.

Likewise, I can improve my performance as a work colleague, increase my mastery of work skills, how to have better conversations, and be more attentive.

Easier said than done, especially when we have hard days. 

Reflect on Your Performance

It’s the performance of a lifetime. After all, we are lifelong learners and students (prokoptons) of moving towards excellence in life as an art.

So let’s think on and reflect on our performances during the day. One way to do this is through philosophical exercises, which I’ll cover in a future article. For now, here are a couple of questions we can ask ourselves:

• How can you change your own performance to move yourself towards excellence? 
• What are some small changes you can practice over the coming weeks?
• What are some of the domains in my life and what does a good performance look like?