Philosophy as a path to transformation: a pragmatist perspective = Filosofi a como caminho para a transformação: uma perspectiva pragmatista

In the ancient period – Greek and Hellenistic in particular – philosophy was conceived not as a pure intellectual activity geared toward the search for truth, but as a practical exercise of thought that was meant to serve life and aim at self-transformation. The goal was to learn how to conduct a philosophical life and take care of oneself: especially of one’s speeches and actions. It was not so important to be able to expose a true doctrine, but to put into practice the teachings that were given. This perspective lapses as early as the medieval period, but one may wonder if pragmatist attitude does not reanimate some aspects of it: for example, the grafting of practice into theory, the conception of ideas as plans for action, the reference to truth eff ects, and the like. In this paper I intend to test this hypothesis, especially with reference to the study Peirce has conducted on the process of “self-control” (the ancients would have said “self-government”, autarkeia) as the basis of ethics, understood as a normative science and the foundation of logic.