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Before I turn to lived time and the main themes of the paper I will flag some general assumptions about philosophy or theory which are likely, and rightly, to be suspected to be guiding my discussion from off-stage. They are modern humanistic and neo-classical assumptions, responsive to the spirit rather than the letter of Greek philosophy and its assumptions about the methods and purposes and the social role and content of theorising.¹ The assumptions hold for theorising about any topic but perhaps particularly about leisure, given that this form of experience was intimately connected with each of the aspects of Greek philosophy mentioned.² Whether in the form of leisure or, along the lines suggested in this paper, in the form of leisureliness, some such concept remains an important element in a realistic characterisation of philosophy's method, purpose and condition — the practice of contemplation and reflection, of conversation, criticism and education seem incomprehensible to me without such a recognition of leisure's significance.

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-19731-6_5

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