Juliusz DomaÅski is one of the founding fathers of philosophy as a way of life (PWL) scholarship. He not only inaugurated research into what happened to the dominant PWL conception of philosophy in Antiquity during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but has exemplified the life of the philosophical humanists he has spent his career studying. His humane character is felt deeply by those who have the opportunity to dialogue with him. One of the most prominent scholars in the Polish academy, and well regarded in francophone philology, history of philosophy, and PWL studies, his scholarship has yet to be made broadly available in the anglophone world. DomaÅski was introduced to Pierre Hadot in 1969 and almost a decade later they began a dialogue that greatly influenced each otherâs work. DomaÅski gained a much-needed heuristic framework for comprehending the reception of the metaphilosophy of Western antiquity in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Hadot began to better appreciate the countercurrents and resurgences of PWL during these periods, and revised his original conception of the degree to which PWL had by this time been already eclipsed as the dominant Western metaphilosophy.
Since then, DomaÅski, his colleagues, and his son have continued to develop PWL scholarship in Poland. On behalf of the Brill âPhilosophy as a Way of Life: Texts and Studiesâ series, we are delighted to offer here the second of two translations of DomaÅskiâs most important works.1
DomaÅskiâs Erasmus and Philosophy: On the Concept of Philosophy Developed by Erasmus of Rotterdam is a gift of scholarship, drawing one into a richly woven textual experience that proves highly readable, alluring in its details, while being impeccably referenced. DomaÅski, as Erasmus before him, is able to âmake the individual visible in their living and lasting qualities.â This applies to the unfolding of the philosophia Christi, Erasmusâ understanding of the term âphilosophy,â and how DomaÅski skillfully crafted his idea of âethical practicism,â from ancient philosophy through early humanism. This text is a living example of PWL, ârealized,â as DomaÅski stated, âin the life of those that preach it, who act as model personalities.â It also provides a critical example of the way one of the great humanists sought to uphold Christian Philosophy as a paradigmatic model of PWL, often in contradistinction to the pedantic and insular scholarly debate of the academy.
Erasmus and Philosophy has done textually what a renowned vintage does, allowing the reader intense intellectual satisfaction. The text has lived through two previous original language editions (1974, and again in 2001), a literary vintage aged from research from the mid-sixties, and now in its third life in English translation. This process describes not only, and most importantly, an ethical-humanistâs life, but stands as a model for those of us working in PWL. It is our privilege to share the work of this masterful scholar and person with the broader English-speaking world.
Eli Kramer and Lucio Privitello
The first is Philosophy, Theory or Way of Life?: Controversies in Antiquity, The Middle Ages, and the Renaissance (with a Preface by Pierre Hadot), forthcoming. This book provides a succinct summary of what happened to PWL in the liberal arts curriculum of the medieval university and how it was revitalized by the Renaissance humanists.