After a brief introduction, the paper surveys the history of the global development of “Philosophy as a Way of Lifeµ (=PWL), followed by an account of the key features of this philosophical orientation. I then discuss some outstanding issues in current PWL studies, with particular emphasis on the central but problematic notion of objectivity on the thought of Pierre Hadot. I conclude with an introduction to and brief summary of the other contributions to this issue of the "Bollettino".