Author Guide · Philosophy
Books Written by
Pierre Hadot, the French historian of philosophy born in 1922, was ordained a Catholic priest in 1944 and left the priesthood after Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Humani generis of 1950. He spent fifteen years as a researcher at the CNRS, taught at the École Pratique des Hautes Études from 1964, and in 1982 took the chair of the History of Hellenistic and Roman Thought at the Collège de France. His central claim was simple and far-reaching: for the ancient Greeks and Romans, philosophy was not a set of theories but a way of life, trained through what he called “spiritual exercises”. Michel Foucault drew on that idea in the later volumes of The History of Sexuality. This guide covers his 7 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 7 key books · 1963–2008 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Pierre Hadot’s best-known books are Philosophy as a Way of Life (French 1981, English 1995), The Inner Citadel (1992), his study of Marcus Aurelius, and What Is Ancient Philosophy? (1995). Start with Philosophy as a Way of Life, the essays in which he set out the idea of spiritual exercises that runs through all his later work.
Where to Start with Pierre Hadot
If you want his central idea
→ Philosophy as a Way of Life (1981) — the essays on spiritual exercises, from Socrates to Foucault.
If you want to read Marcus Aurelius more closely
→ The Inner Citadel (1992) — the Meditations read as daily practice.
If you want a full history of ancient philosophy
→ What Is Ancient Philosophy? (1995) — every major school, as a choice of life.
If you want the man behind the books
→ The Present Alone Is Our Happiness (2001) — his life and thought, in conversation.
7 Pierre Hadot Books, in Order
Plotinus or the Simplicity of Vision
A short study of Plotinus, the third-century Neoplatonist, that sets aside his system to describe the inner life his writings point to: the turning of attention inward and the experience of union with the One. Published in French as Plotin ou la simplicité du regard; English translation by Michael Chase, 1993.
Philosophy as a Way of Life
Essays arguing that ancient philosophy was practised through “spiritual exercises”: attention to the present moment, meditation on death, the “view from above”, the examination of one’s own judgements. Published in French as Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique; the English edition of 1995, edited by Arnold I. Davidson and translated by Michael Chase, selects and arranges the essays differently and adds Hadot’s reflections on Foucault. The French book received the Prix Dagnan-Bouveret in 1990.
The Inner Citadel
A reading of the Meditations not as the private diary of a weary emperor but as a set of Stoic exercises Marcus Aurelius wrote for himself, structured by the three disciplines of judgement, desire and action he took from Epictetus. Published in French as La Citadelle intérieure; English translation by Michael Chase, 1998.
What Is Ancient Philosophy?
A history of Greek and Roman philosophy from the Presocratics to late antiquity in which each school — Platonist, Aristotelian, Epicurean, Stoic, Cynic, Sceptic — is presented first as a choice of how to live, with its theories serving that choice. The last part follows how Christianity absorbed these practices and how philosophy later narrowed into theory. Published in French as Qu’est-ce que la philosophie antique?; English translation by Michael Chase, 2002.
The Present Alone Is Our Happiness
Book-length conversations with Jeannie Carlier and Arnold I. Davidson in which Hadot talks about his Catholic upbringing, his years as a priest and his departure from the Church, his scholarly career and the ideas behind his books. Published in French as La Philosophie comme manière de vivre; English translation by Marc Djaballah, Stanford University Press, 2009, with a second edition in 2011.
The Veil of Isis
A history of Heraclitus’ saying “Nature loves to hide” and of the image of the veiled goddess Isis, from antiquity to the modern period. Hadot contrasts two attitudes to nature’s secrets: a Promethean one that seeks to force them out through technology, and an Orphean one that approaches them through contemplation and art. Published in French as Le Voile d’Isis; English translation by Michael Chase, 2006.
Don’t Forget to Live
His last book, on Goethe’s relationship to the ancient tradition of spiritual exercises: his attention to the present moment, the “view from above”, and the Urworte or primal words. Hadot argues that Goethe turned the old memento mori into a call to live fully. Published in French as N’oublie pas de vivre; English translation by Michael Chase, University of Chicago Press, 2023.
In What Order to Read Pierre Hadot
Hadot’s books do not depend on each other, but they share one idea, so the order matters less than the starting point. Philosophy as a Way of Life states the idea in short essays; What Is Ancient Philosophy? applies it to the whole of ancient thought; The Inner Citadel tests it on a single author, Marcus Aurelius, at full length.
The early Plotinus is the most mystical of his books and reads well after the others. The Present Alone Is Our Happiness is the best companion: in it he explains how each book came about. The Veil of Isis and Don’t Forget to Live carry the same questions past antiquity, to the idea of nature and to Goethe.
A reading path
1. Philosophy as a Way of Life (1981)
2. The Inner Citadel (1992)
3. What Is Ancient Philosophy? (1995)
4. The Present Alone Is Our Happiness (2001)
5. The Veil of Isis (2004)
Everything Else Pierre Hadot Published
Beyond the 7 key books: 7 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Scholarly studies and editions (in French)
7
7 books · 1968–2004
- 1968Porphyre et Victorinushis doctoral thesis, on Porphyry and Marius Victorinus
- 1971Marius Victorinus: recherches sur sa vie et ses œuvresa study of the fourth-century Latin philosopher
- 1998Marc Aurèle, Écrits pour lui-même, vol. 1an edition and translation of the Meditations
- 1998Études de philosophie anciennecollected essays on ancient philosophy
- 1999Plotin, Porphyre: Études néoplatoniciennescollected essays on Neoplatonism
- 2004Wittgenstein et les limites du langageessays on Wittgenstein and what language cannot say
- 2004Apprendre à philosopher dans l’Antiquitéon Epictetus’ Manual and its commentary by Simplicius, with Ilsetraut Hadot
The years · 1922–2010
Quick facts about Pierre Hadot
- Known for
- Showing that ancient philosophy was practised as a way of life, through daily “spiritual exercises”, rather than studied as a body of theory.
- 1922
- Born in Paris
- 1944
- Ordained a Catholic priest
- 1964
- Director of studies at the EPHE
- 2010
- Dies on 24 April, aged 88
- Born
- 21 February 1922, Paris
- Died
- 24 April 2010, Orsay, France
- Early life
- Ordained a priest in 1944; left the priesthood after Humani generis (1950)
- Worked
- CNRS, 1949–1964; École Pratique des Hautes Études, from 1964
- Collège de France
- Chair of the History of Hellenistic and Roman Thought, 1982–1991
- Married
- The historian of philosophy Ilsetraut Hadot, in 1966
- Translator
- Most of his books were translated into English by Michael Chase
The red mark is 1981: Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique, published in English as Philosophy as a Way of Life.
How Pierre Hadot Writes: Philosophy as Practice
Hadot reads ancient texts as a philologist first. He trained on Latin and Greek late-antique authors such as Marius Victorinus and Porphyry, and his early career was spent on editions, translations and source criticism. That training shows in his method: before asking what a text claims, he asks what kind of text it is, who it was written for and what it was meant to do to its reader.
His answer, repeated across the books, is that many ancient philosophical texts were exercises. Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations repeat the same Stoic principles because writing them was the practice; a dialogue of Plato trains the reader as much as it informs. Hadot illustrates this with concrete practices — meditation on death, attention to the present, the view from above — and with close readings of short passages rather than reconstructions of whole systems.
He writes plainly, often in short chapters, and he was open about why the subject mattered to him: he said that since about 1970 he had felt that Epicureanism and Stoicism could nourish the inner life of people today. For writers who share that interest in practical ancient wisdom, see Authors like Marcus Aurelius.
Frequently asked questions about Pierre Hadot’s books
How many books has Pierre Hadot written?
Seven key books are listed on this page, from Plotinus or the Simplicity of Vision (1963) to Don’t Forget to Live (2008), all of them translated into English. He also published seven further scholarly studies, editions and essay collections in French, listed under “Everything Else”, as well as translations of Plotinus and Marcus Aurelius.
What are Pierre Hadot’s books in order?
By first French publication: Plotinus or the Simplicity of Vision (1963), Philosophy as a Way of Life (1981), The Inner Citadel (1992), What Is Ancient Philosophy? (1995), The Present Alone Is Our Happiness (2001), The Veil of Isis (2004) and Don’t Forget to Live (2008).
Where should I start with Pierre Hadot?
Philosophy as a Way of Life. Its essays set out the idea of spiritual exercises that the later books develop. If you already read the Stoics, The Inner Citadel is an equally good first book.
What is Pierre Hadot’s most famous book?
Philosophy as a Way of Life (French 1981, English 1995), the book that made his idea of spiritual exercises widely known and the one Foucault drew on. The Inner Citadel, on Marcus Aurelius, is the best known among readers of Stoicism.
Did Pierre Hadot write in English?
No. He wrote in French, and his books reached English readers in translation, most of them by Michael Chase. The English dates are often many years later: Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique (1981) appeared as Philosophy as a Way of Life in 1995, and N’oublie pas de vivre (2008) as Don’t Forget to Live in 2023.
What did Pierre Hadot mean by spiritual exercises?
Practices meant to change how a person sees and lives, not only what they think: attention to the present moment, meditation on death, examining one’s own judgements, imagining the world seen from above. He argued that the ancient schools, from Socrates to the Stoics and Epicureans, used such exercises and that their texts were written to support them.
What was the relationship between Pierre Hadot and Michel Foucault?
Foucault read Hadot’s work on spiritual exercises, and it influenced the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality. Hadot later wrote that he disagreed with parts of Foucault’s reading: in his view Foucault placed too much weight on care of the self and too little on the ancient philosopher’s sense of belonging to a wider whole. The English Philosophy as a Way of Life includes those reflections.
Is Pierre Hadot still alive?
No. He was born on 21 February 1922 in Paris and died on 24 April 2010, aged 88.
Is The Inner Citadel about Marcus Aurelius?
Yes. It is a full-length study of the Meditations, which Hadot reads as Stoic exercises that Marcus wrote for himself, organised around the three disciplines of judgement, desire and action he took from Epictetus. The title comes from the Meditations’ image of the mind as a citadel.
Was Pierre Hadot’s idea criticised?
His account drew both praise and criticism. Some scholars, including Martha Nussbaum and John Cooper, questioned whether the term “spiritual exercises” ties ancient philosophy too closely to religious devotion.
Footnotes
- Pierre Hadot — Wikipedia
- Pierre Hadot (1922–2010) — Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Pierre Hadot, biography — Collège de France
- The Present Alone Is Our Happiness — New York Public Library catalogue
- Don’t Forget to Live — University of Chicago Press
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Not as a theoretical construct, but as a method for training people to live and to look at the world in a new way.”
— Pierre Hadot on ancient philosophy, Philosophy as a Way of Life (1995)
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