On the applied practice of Philosophy

>>9495290
I'm pretty sure everyone of the Christians here that are obsessed with Plato's Phaedo are grateful they don't apply themselves too judiciously.

>philosophy
>useful

I do not believe you.

>>9495290

Could someone acquire instant self control by merely knowing that he must not be conquered by pleasures but without training to resist them? Could someone become just by learning that he must love moderation but without practicing the avoidance of excess? Could we acquire courage by realizing that things which seem terrible to most people are not to be feared but without practicing being fearless toward them? Could we become wise by recognizing what things are truly good and what things are bad but without having been trained to look down upon things which seem to be good?
Therefore practicing each virtue always must follow learning the lessons to appropriate it, or it is just pointless for us to learn about it. The person who claims to be studying philosophy must practice it even more diligently than he person who aspires to the art of medicine or some similar skill, inasmuch as philosophy is more important and harder to grasp than any other pursuit. People who study skills other than philosophy have not been previously corrupted in their souls by learning things contrary to what they are about to learn, but people who attempt to study philosophy, since they have been already in the midst of much corruption and are filled will evil, pursue virtue in such a condition that they need even more practice in it.

>>9495315

How, then, and in what way must they be trained? Since a human happens to be neither soul alone nor body alone, but a composite of these two things, someone in training must pay attention to both. He should, rightly, pay more attention to the better part, namely the soul, but he should also take care of the other part, or part of him will become defective. The philosopher's body must also be well prepared for work because often virtues use it as a necessary tool for the activities of life. One type of training would be appropriate only for the soul, and another would be appropriate both both soul and body, We will train both soul and body when we accustom ourselves to cold, heat, thirst, hunger, scarcity of food, hardness of bed, abstaining from pleasures, and enduring pains.
Through these methods and others like them, the body is strengthened, becomes inured to suffering ,and strong and fit for every task; the soul is strengthened as it is trained for courage by enduring hardships and trained for self control by abstaining from pleasures. The first step in the proper training of the soul is to keep handy the proofs showing that things which seem to be good are not good, and that things which seem to be bad are not bad, and to become accustomed to recognizing things that are truly good and distingusing them from things that are not. THe next tstep is to be careful neither to flee for the things that are only seem to be bad nor to pursue things that only seem to be good, and then to avoid by all means things that are truly evil and in very way strive to attain things that are truly good.

>>9495290

Any questions? I'm about to end the piece and I want to know if anyone has any questions about practical philosophy.

>>9495357
So mutch effort and so mutch result, sad. Whats the practicality of writing all of this to just be ignored.

>>9495481

I actually don't mind. /lit/ is a slow board.

>>9495481
Go away, SoCrates.