One of the oldest definitions of philosophy owed to Socrates and Plato was this: philosophy is learning to die. This conception of philosophy can be found through the historical legacy of the West even into the 20th Century in thinkers like Martin Heidegger. This learning to die meant at least several things. (1) Learning not to trust one’s sense perceptions that can err but to seek for deeper, true insight into the nature of reality; philosophy thereby relies on a distinction between appearance and reality. (2) Learning to abstract from particular sense impressions, experiences, or inherited cultural forms in order to discover or to create through abstraction more general, even universal, truths about being or mind; philosophy thereby relies on a logic of the particular and the universal. (3) Learning how to escape the fear of death and thus achieve liberation from the sources of human fear (fate, anticipation of pain and grief; undue attachment or love of others; beliefs about the gods or God) in order to attain self-sufficiency and with it true happiness (eudaimonia). In other words, “philosophy” in its most profound sense was a way of life that sought to enhance life either through overcoming finite existence or through strengthening one to endure this finite life with resoluteness and authenticity.
What is submerged, what is implicit, and what is not sufficiently examined? Where can “Enhancing Life Studies” make a difference? Where do we want to shift scholarly attention?
Enhancing Life Studies seeks to shift and refocus the debate about philosophy and natural and spiritual life. Indeed, the religions often seem ultimately focused on life, richer, true life, and the resources of the religions may thereby aid in thinking philosophically about enhancing life. Likewise with the present technological power to enhance life, conceptions of life need to be philosophically examined and assessed not under the rubric of death and dying, but with respect to life itself. Finally as noted above, longstanding and powerful assumptions about philosophy do aim to enhance life and in this way become both a resource but also a challenge to refection on enhancing life. We are asking, in other words, what are the philosophical contributions to thinking about enhancing life, and, conversely, how do religious and spiritual forms enrich our understanding of philosophy itself?