La Ciudadela Interior

In this stirring introduction to Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, noted French philosopher Pierre Hadot offers proof of the way in which the Roman emperor’s thoughts form part of a tradition of spiritual exercise that spans the period between the ancient Greek philosophers to Michel Foucault. This treatise analyzes Meditations as the work of a man of action who sought serenity primarily because it was an essential precondition for efficiency. Hadot examines the possible applications of Aurelius’s views on governance—an approach in which the city was a symbol of the ruler’s own soul, and thus intimately tied to his spiritual praxis—to modern society, posing questions and offering proposals to readers who, at a time of tremendous economic uncertainty, might look to philosophy for a more fulfilling way of life. Ultimately, the book argues that true philosophy isn’t merely the practice of addressing abstract problems and issues, but a concrete way of bettering our way of life.