At its best, philosophy is an activity to be engaged in by every thoughtful person. It's not an enterprise of purely esoteric speculation reserved for ancient minds who had nothing better to do. It's not a dusty museum of past masters. It's a vibrant quest to know, to understand, and finally, to do - wisely. Explaining why he thinks of wisdom in such high terms, in another passage, he calls it simply the art of living .
Philosophy offers counsel.
It is some of that counsel, that wise advice for living, that we are going to consult, and draw insight from, in these pages. For Seneca, going to the words and wisdom of the philosophers of the past is an imminently practical act. It's never just for intellectual enlightenment, but always for help in living well. Philosophy gives us good advice. It can light our paths and it can change our lives.