Self-examination as a technique
What if reading was supposed to change you rather than inform you?
What it argues
Ancient philosophy was a set of exercises, meditation, memorisation, self-scrutiny, the view from above, intended to transform the practitioner rather than to inform an audience. Reading was a practice. Doctrine was the justification for the practice, not its point.
The probe
Take one entry from this site and repeat its probe daily for seven days. Record what changes in the act, not in your opinion of it.
The source
Philosophy as a Way of Life — Pierre Hadot, 1981; English 1995. The link goes to the text or to a catalogue record for it, not to a summary. This one is a catalogue record: the entry gives you the question and the probe, not the argument in the author's words.
Read next
Which self-examination techniques did you inherit without choosing?