Nathan Powers
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199666164
- eISBN:
- 9780191751936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199666164.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
One of ancient Stoicism's central claims is that the cosmos as a whole is a rational being, with plans and impulses of its own; but their justification for this claim has not been well understood. ...
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One of ancient Stoicism's central claims is that the cosmos as a whole is a rational being, with plans and impulses of its own; but their justification for this claim has not been well understood. This paper argues, on the basis of a reexamination of the crucial evidence in Book 2 of Cicero's De natura deorum, that the Stoics took the rationality of the cosmos to be established as a consequence of two further claims which they endorsed: (1) the cosmos is an object unified by a nature; and (2) the various powers (including reason) found in the parts of a natured object originate, and are contained in, the ruling faculty of its nature.Less
One of ancient Stoicism's central claims is that the cosmos as a whole is a rational being, with plans and impulses of its own; but their justification for this claim has not been well understood. This paper argues, on the basis of a reexamination of the crucial evidence in Book 2 of Cicero's De natura deorum, that the Stoics took the rationality of the cosmos to be established as a consequence of two further claims which they endorsed: (1) the cosmos is an object unified by a nature; and (2) the various powers (including reason) found in the parts of a natured object originate, and are contained in, the ruling faculty of its nature.
