A. A. Long
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199279128
- eISBN:
- 9780191706769
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279128.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This book presents eighteen essays on the philosophers and schools of the Hellenistic and Roman periods: Epicureans, Stoics, and Sceptics. The discussion ranges over four centuries of innovative and ...
More
This book presents eighteen essays on the philosophers and schools of the Hellenistic and Roman periods: Epicureans, Stoics, and Sceptics. The discussion ranges over four centuries of innovative and challenging thought in ethics and politics, psychology, epistemology, and cosmology. The focus is on the distinctive contributions and methodologies of individual thinkers, notably Epicurus, Zeno, Pyrrho, Arcesilaus, Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, and Epictetus. Placing their philosophy in its cultural context, and considering it in relation to the earlier ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the author invites readers to imagine themselves choosing between Stoicism and Epicureanism as philosophies of life. All but one of these pieces has been previously published in periodicals or conference volumes, but the author has revised and updated everything, and has also added postscripts to many of the essays.Less
This book presents eighteen essays on the philosophers and schools of the Hellenistic and Roman periods: Epicureans, Stoics, and Sceptics. The discussion ranges over four centuries of innovative and challenging thought in ethics and politics, psychology, epistemology, and cosmology. The focus is on the distinctive contributions and methodologies of individual thinkers, notably Epicurus, Zeno, Pyrrho, Arcesilaus, Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, and Epictetus. Placing their philosophy in its cultural context, and considering it in relation to the earlier ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the author invites readers to imagine themselves choosing between Stoicism and Epicureanism as philosophies of life. All but one of these pieces has been previously published in periodicals or conference volumes, but the author has revised and updated everything, and has also added postscripts to many of the essays.
Richard Sorabji
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199256600
- eISBN:
- 9780191712609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199256600.003.0019
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
In ancient philosophy, sex, being in love (erôs), marriage, and rearing children each got advocated in separation from the others. Moreover, a good form of erôs got distinguished from one or two bad ...
More
In ancient philosophy, sex, being in love (erôs), marriage, and rearing children each got advocated in separation from the others. Moreover, a good form of erôs got distinguished from one or two bad forms, most influentially by Plato's Socrates. The Stoics agree and so are able to advocate a good form of erôs as not emotional, namely being led by beauty to make friends in order to inculcate virtue. The Epicureans are against erôs and in most circumstances against marriage. Sex would be alright as a palliative, if it did not lead to illusion, harm, and pain, so casual sex is better. Among the Neoplatonists, Porphyry wants the philosopher to avoid anything that might even arouse sexual desire, but Iamblichus rebukes him: erotic rituals for ordinary people provide Aristotelian catharsis.Less
In ancient philosophy, sex, being in love (erôs), marriage, and rearing children each got advocated in separation from the others. Moreover, a good form of erôs got distinguished from one or two bad forms, most influentially by Plato's Socrates. The Stoics agree and so are able to advocate a good form of erôs as not emotional, namely being led by beauty to make friends in order to inculcate virtue. The Epicureans are against erôs and in most circumstances against marriage. Sex would be alright as a palliative, if it did not lead to illusion, harm, and pain, so casual sex is better. Among the Neoplatonists, Porphyry wants the philosopher to avoid anything that might even arouse sexual desire, but Iamblichus rebukes him: erotic rituals for ordinary people provide Aristotelian catharsis.
Richard Sorabji
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199256600
- eISBN:
- 9780191712609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199256600.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
The idea of philosophy as psychotherapy goes back to 5th century BCE Presocratics. All ancient philosophers regard emotions as involving cognition in some way, though the point is hidden in Gorgias. ...
More
The idea of philosophy as psychotherapy goes back to 5th century BCE Presocratics. All ancient philosophers regard emotions as involving cognition in some way, though the point is hidden in Gorgias. In the 4th century BCE, Plato's Socrates goes so far as to say that fear actually is expectation of harm, but that intellectualist treatment of an emotion was not further developed until the Stoics. Aristotle discusses emotion in psychology, logic, ethics, rhetoric, and poetics. The last two contexts are inter-related and require close attention to the content of thoughts, but he does not yet contrast appearance with judgement, like the Stoics. The Epicureans recognize the role of cognition and even of unconscious beliefs. But this book focuses more on the Stoics, because they took the subject much further forward, and had a huge influence on philosophers, including the Christians.Less
The idea of philosophy as psychotherapy goes back to 5th century BCE Presocratics. All ancient philosophers regard emotions as involving cognition in some way, though the point is hidden in Gorgias. In the 4th century BCE, Plato's Socrates goes so far as to say that fear actually is expectation of harm, but that intellectualist treatment of an emotion was not further developed until the Stoics. Aristotle discusses emotion in psychology, logic, ethics, rhetoric, and poetics. The last two contexts are inter-related and require close attention to the content of thoughts, but he does not yet contrast appearance with judgement, like the Stoics. The Epicureans recognize the role of cognition and even of unconscious beliefs. But this book focuses more on the Stoics, because they took the subject much further forward, and had a huge influence on philosophers, including the Christians.
Jon D. Mikalson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199577835
- eISBN:
- 9780191723063
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577835.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
A study of how ancient Greek philosophers described, interpreted, criticized, and utilized major components and concepts of the religion of the people of their time. The philosophers studied are ...
More
A study of how ancient Greek philosophers described, interpreted, criticized, and utilized major components and concepts of the religion of the people of their time. The philosophers studied are primarily Sophocles, Plato, and Aristotle, with secondary emphasis on their predecessors and contemporaries such as Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Protagoras, and Democritus, and on the early Cynics Diogenes and Bion, the early Stoics Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus, and Epicurus. The major components of this practised religion are sacrifice, prayer, dedications, religious officials, and divination. The major concepts are piety and impiety, and by a thorough analysis of the philosophical texts a refined definition of Greek piety is offered, dividing it into its two constituent elements of ‘proper respect’ for the gods and ‘religious correctness’. It is found that in the Platonic tradition ‘religious correctness’ alone is treated as a ‘virtue’, and this leads to an investigation of the role of ‘religious correctness’ and its relationship to ‘justice’ in the ethical system of Plato. The book concludes with a demonstration of the benevolence of the gods in the philosophical tradition and links that to the expectation of the benevolence of the gods found in the popular religious tradition.Less
A study of how ancient Greek philosophers described, interpreted, criticized, and utilized major components and concepts of the religion of the people of their time. The philosophers studied are primarily Sophocles, Plato, and Aristotle, with secondary emphasis on their predecessors and contemporaries such as Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Protagoras, and Democritus, and on the early Cynics Diogenes and Bion, the early Stoics Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus, and Epicurus. The major components of this practised religion are sacrifice, prayer, dedications, religious officials, and divination. The major concepts are piety and impiety, and by a thorough analysis of the philosophical texts a refined definition of Greek piety is offered, dividing it into its two constituent elements of ‘proper respect’ for the gods and ‘religious correctness’. It is found that in the Platonic tradition ‘religious correctness’ alone is treated as a ‘virtue’, and this leads to an investigation of the role of ‘religious correctness’ and its relationship to ‘justice’ in the ethical system of Plato. The book concludes with a demonstration of the benevolence of the gods in the philosophical tradition and links that to the expectation of the benevolence of the gods found in the popular religious tradition.
J. B. Schneewind
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199563012
- eISBN:
- 9780191721731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563012.003.0017
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Commenting on the Fourth Proposition in Kant's ‘Idea for a Universal History’, this chapter discusses earlier ideas of sociability to bring out the originality of Kant's notion of ‘unsocial ...
More
Commenting on the Fourth Proposition in Kant's ‘Idea for a Universal History’, this chapter discusses earlier ideas of sociability to bring out the originality of Kant's notion of ‘unsocial sociability’. The Epicureans, the Stoics, Grotius, Hobbes, Pufendorf, Mandeville, Hutcheson, and Rousseau are among those mentioned. Kant sees our unsocial sociability as a spur to individual and social improvement. What makes sociability so difficult for us, Kant thinks, is the radical evil in the human will, which perversely leads us to freely choose what we ought to avoid.Less
Commenting on the Fourth Proposition in Kant's ‘Idea for a Universal History’, this chapter discusses earlier ideas of sociability to bring out the originality of Kant's notion of ‘unsocial sociability’. The Epicureans, the Stoics, Grotius, Hobbes, Pufendorf, Mandeville, Hutcheson, and Rousseau are among those mentioned. Kant sees our unsocial sociability as a spur to individual and social improvement. What makes sociability so difficult for us, Kant thinks, is the radical evil in the human will, which perversely leads us to freely choose what we ought to avoid.
TERENCE IRWIN
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198242673
- eISBN:
- 9780191680519
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198242673.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The most extensive evidence on Sceptical argument about ethics comes from Sextus Empiricus, writing in the second century AD. Sextus describes his ...
More
The most extensive evidence on Sceptical argument about ethics comes from Sextus Empiricus, writing in the second century AD. Sextus describes his outlook as ‘Pyrrhonian’, referring to Pyrrhon, who lived around 360 to 270 BC, and hence was a contemporary of Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurus. It is reasonable to discuss Scepticism between Aristotle and the Epicureans and Stoics. Even if the specific Sceptical arguments in Sextus were formulated long after the lifetime of Aristotle, it is useful to see how they emerge naturally from arguments and claims in Plato and Aristotle. Moreover, both the Epicureans and the Stoics regard their views as offering replies to Sceptical objections. Sextus' ethical arguments often apply to ethics some of the argumentative techniques that rest on his general epistemological assumptions. The chapter sketches some influential Sceptical ideas that raise questions about the prospects of constructive moral philosophy and about the outlook that replaces it for a Sceptic. Some of Sextus' arguments also anticipate arguments in modern philosophy against moral objectivity.Less
The most extensive evidence on Sceptical argument about ethics comes from Sextus Empiricus, writing in the second century AD. Sextus describes his outlook as ‘Pyrrhonian’, referring to Pyrrhon, who lived around 360 to 270 BC, and hence was a contemporary of Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurus. It is reasonable to discuss Scepticism between Aristotle and the Epicureans and Stoics. Even if the specific Sceptical arguments in Sextus were formulated long after the lifetime of Aristotle, it is useful to see how they emerge naturally from arguments and claims in Plato and Aristotle. Moreover, both the Epicureans and the Stoics regard their views as offering replies to Sceptical objections. Sextus' ethical arguments often apply to ethics some of the argumentative techniques that rest on his general epistemological assumptions. The chapter sketches some influential Sceptical ideas that raise questions about the prospects of constructive moral philosophy and about the outlook that replaces it for a Sceptic. Some of Sextus' arguments also anticipate arguments in modern philosophy against moral objectivity.
Thomas Holden
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199263264
- eISBN:
- 9780191601743
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199263264.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Documents and examines the main arguments for the infinite divisibility of space found in the early modern literature (in figures such as Descartes, Hobbes, and Kant). Also surveys the criticisms of ...
More
Documents and examines the main arguments for the infinite divisibility of space found in the early modern literature (in figures such as Descartes, Hobbes, and Kant). Also surveys the criticisms of these arguments found among the small group of so‐called ‘ungeometrical philosophers’ (including Berkeley and neo‐Epicureans like Gassendi). In assessing this debate, explores the rival rationalist and empiricist accounts of the epistemology of geometry in early modern philosophy. In the end, argues that the case for infinite divisibility falls short: no a priori argument can show that space is infinitely divisible.Less
Documents and examines the main arguments for the infinite divisibility of space found in the early modern literature (in figures such as Descartes, Hobbes, and Kant). Also surveys the criticisms of these arguments found among the small group of so‐called ‘ungeometrical philosophers’ (including Berkeley and neo‐Epicureans like Gassendi). In assessing this debate, explores the rival rationalist and empiricist accounts of the epistemology of geometry in early modern philosophy. In the end, argues that the case for infinite divisibility falls short: no a priori argument can show that space is infinitely divisible.
Phillip Mitsis
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199218035
- eISBN:
- 9780191711534
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199218035.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter begins with a passage from Montaigne’s Essays and the use that it makes of Lucretius, and concentrates on is its image of life as a play. It is interested in the way that the passage ...
More
This chapter begins with a passage from Montaigne’s Essays and the use that it makes of Lucretius, and concentrates on is its image of life as a play. It is interested in the way that the passage gives voice to a deeper set of conceptual tensions that can be found in our thinking about death generally — tensions, for instance, between our expectations for complete lives and the suspicion that any such plans are likely to prove illusory, or tensions between the idea that we can self-consciously pattern our lives and experience into satisfying wholes and the contrary worry that such patterning is little more than wilful self-delusion. At the same time, laying aside this conceptual dimension, one can hardly fail to notice how utterly literary our deaths become in Montaigne’s hands. Even if we come to agree with Lucretius that death may unmask us at any time as we are play-acting, such an agreement still remains couched in terms that are relentlessly literary: for example, taking on a role, unmasking, and playing a final scene.Less
This chapter begins with a passage from Montaigne’s Essays and the use that it makes of Lucretius, and concentrates on is its image of life as a play. It is interested in the way that the passage gives voice to a deeper set of conceptual tensions that can be found in our thinking about death generally — tensions, for instance, between our expectations for complete lives and the suspicion that any such plans are likely to prove illusory, or tensions between the idea that we can self-consciously pattern our lives and experience into satisfying wholes and the contrary worry that such patterning is little more than wilful self-delusion. At the same time, laying aside this conceptual dimension, one can hardly fail to notice how utterly literary our deaths become in Montaigne’s hands. Even if we come to agree with Lucretius that death may unmask us at any time as we are play-acting, such an agreement still remains couched in terms that are relentlessly literary: for example, taking on a role, unmasking, and playing a final scene.
Geoffrey Lloyd
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198524021
- eISBN:
- 9780191689093
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198524021.003.0017
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter discusses the legal, philosophical, and scientific sources of Greek ideas of causation, and their evolution from the pre-Socratics to the Stoics and Epicureans. It also compares Greek ...
More
This chapter discusses the legal, philosophical, and scientific sources of Greek ideas of causation, and their evolution from the pre-Socratics to the Stoics and Epicureans. It also compares Greek and classical Chinese ideas of causation. While Greek ideas are focused on natural regularities, Chinese ideas are focused on exceptional occurrences.Less
This chapter discusses the legal, philosophical, and scientific sources of Greek ideas of causation, and their evolution from the pre-Socratics to the Stoics and Epicureans. It also compares Greek and classical Chinese ideas of causation. While Greek ideas are focused on natural regularities, Chinese ideas are focused on exceptional occurrences.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226305776
- eISBN:
- 9780226305196
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226305196.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
The third and fourth books of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations deal with the nature and management of human emotion: first grief, then the emotions in general. In lively and accessible style, Cicero ...
More
The third and fourth books of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations deal with the nature and management of human emotion: first grief, then the emotions in general. In lively and accessible style, Cicero presents the insights of Greek philosophers on the subject, reporting the views of Epicureans and Peripatetics and giving a detailed account of the Stoic position, which he himself favors for its close reasoning and moral earnestness. This book gives the Stoics' analysis of the causes of grief, their classification of emotions by genus and species, their lists of oddly named character flaws, and by the philosophical debate that develops over the utility of anger in politics and war. This translation makes Cicero's work accessible. The accompanying commentary explains the philosophical concepts discussed in the text and supplies many helpful parallels from Greek sources.Less
The third and fourth books of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations deal with the nature and management of human emotion: first grief, then the emotions in general. In lively and accessible style, Cicero presents the insights of Greek philosophers on the subject, reporting the views of Epicureans and Peripatetics and giving a detailed account of the Stoic position, which he himself favors for its close reasoning and moral earnestness. This book gives the Stoics' analysis of the causes of grief, their classification of emotions by genus and species, their lists of oddly named character flaws, and by the philosophical debate that develops over the utility of anger in politics and war. This translation makes Cicero's work accessible. The accompanying commentary explains the philosophical concepts discussed in the text and supplies many helpful parallels from Greek sources.
John Hare
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780195395686
- eISBN:
- 9780199979295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395686.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This paper is about Kant's view of the relation of belief in God to the moral life. It proceeds in three sections. The first examines the first sentence of Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of ...
More
This paper is about Kant's view of the relation of belief in God to the moral life. It proceeds in three sections. The first examines the first sentence of Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, and shows that it is consistent with Kant's statement, in the third paragraph, that morality inevitably leads to religion. The second section is about Kant's view of the role of God’s grace in accomplishing the revolution of the will. The third section discusses Kant’s account of moral depravity, and its connection with the views he attributes to the Stoics and the Epicureans.Less
This paper is about Kant's view of the relation of belief in God to the moral life. It proceeds in three sections. The first examines the first sentence of Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, and shows that it is consistent with Kant's statement, in the third paragraph, that morality inevitably leads to religion. The second section is about Kant's view of the role of God’s grace in accomplishing the revolution of the will. The third section discusses Kant’s account of moral depravity, and its connection with the views he attributes to the Stoics and the Epicureans.
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226075358
- eISBN:
- 9780226075389
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226075389.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter analyses the De natura deorum (DND), in which Cicero systematically covered what the three predominant philosophical currents of the time had to say on the various gods and on the ...
More
This chapter analyses the De natura deorum (DND), in which Cicero systematically covered what the three predominant philosophical currents of the time had to say on the various gods and on the interpretations that each of these figures generated. Only fragments of the works of the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the philosophers of the New Academy have survived. Balbus, the representative of Stoicism, wonders about the origins of the gods of the popular religion, in the second book of DND. The doctrine against which the attacks of the Epicureans and the Academicians converge is that of the Stoics, which is characterized by two traits, that is, the acceptance of the existence of all the traditional divinities, and the allegorical justification of their nature. Hence, the allegorical interpretation advocated by the Stoics remained predominant for centuries despite of all the attacks.Less
This chapter analyses the De natura deorum (DND), in which Cicero systematically covered what the three predominant philosophical currents of the time had to say on the various gods and on the interpretations that each of these figures generated. Only fragments of the works of the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the philosophers of the New Academy have survived. Balbus, the representative of Stoicism, wonders about the origins of the gods of the popular religion, in the second book of DND. The doctrine against which the attacks of the Epicureans and the Academicians converge is that of the Stoics, which is characterized by two traits, that is, the acceptance of the existence of all the traditional divinities, and the allegorical justification of their nature. Hence, the allegorical interpretation advocated by the Stoics remained predominant for centuries despite of all the attacks.
Daniel W. Graham
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199959785
- eISBN:
- 9780199346035
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199959785.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Scientific discovery requires not only that one correctly explain phenomena, but that one persuade one’s peers. Anaxagoras’ theory was accepted by Empedocles, Diogenes of Apollonia, and even ...
More
Scientific discovery requires not only that one correctly explain phenomena, but that one persuade one’s peers. Anaxagoras’ theory was accepted by Empedocles, Diogenes of Apollonia, and even Philolaus (who had a radically different model of the heavens), and apparently Democritus. The doxographic tradition shows a mixture of different theories competing with heliophotism and antiphraxis. But when errors are corrected and the theories are put in chronological order (as they are not in doxographies), we see that there were virtually no new theories of lunar light and eclipses proposed after the time of Anaxagoras. Indeed, Aristotle himself uses antiphraxis as a paradigm of successful scientific explanation–even though it fits poorly with his own model of the heavens. Mathematical astronomers from Aristarchus to Ptolemy adopted heliophotism as an axiom and antiphraxis as a theorem. No competing hypothesis was even considered from the time of Ptolemy to the present day.Less
Scientific discovery requires not only that one correctly explain phenomena, but that one persuade one’s peers. Anaxagoras’ theory was accepted by Empedocles, Diogenes of Apollonia, and even Philolaus (who had a radically different model of the heavens), and apparently Democritus. The doxographic tradition shows a mixture of different theories competing with heliophotism and antiphraxis. But when errors are corrected and the theories are put in chronological order (as they are not in doxographies), we see that there were virtually no new theories of lunar light and eclipses proposed after the time of Anaxagoras. Indeed, Aristotle himself uses antiphraxis as a paradigm of successful scientific explanation–even though it fits poorly with his own model of the heavens. Mathematical astronomers from Aristarchus to Ptolemy adopted heliophotism as an axiom and antiphraxis as a theorem. No competing hypothesis was even considered from the time of Ptolemy to the present day.
James Allen
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199890477
- eISBN:
- 9780199345472
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199890477.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter adds a new twist to the ancient Greek question about what the ultimate human end is: it asks why Cicero presents ancient ethical theories (e.g., those of Aristotle, the Stoics, and the ...
More
This chapter adds a new twist to the ancient Greek question about what the ultimate human end is: it asks why Cicero presents ancient ethical theories (e.g., those of Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Epicureans) in answer to the question ‘What are the ends of goods and evils?’ For if an end (telos) is something for the sake of which we should do things, then bad and evil things should not have ends at all. The chapter argues that ‘end’ here has the earlier senses of (i) a result, and (ii) a criterion. A theory of the ends of goods and evils will thus allow one to judge which things are ends by means of a criterion, namely, by the ends in the sense of results that typically follow for things of that kind.Less
This chapter adds a new twist to the ancient Greek question about what the ultimate human end is: it asks why Cicero presents ancient ethical theories (e.g., those of Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Epicureans) in answer to the question ‘What are the ends of goods and evils?’ For if an end (telos) is something for the sake of which we should do things, then bad and evil things should not have ends at all. The chapter argues that ‘end’ here has the earlier senses of (i) a result, and (ii) a criterion. A theory of the ends of goods and evils will thus allow one to judge which things are ends by means of a criterion, namely, by the ends in the sense of results that typically follow for things of that kind.
Ruth R. Caston and Robert A. Kaster (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190278298
- eISBN:
- 9780190603786
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190278298.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Scholarship on the emotions in classical antiquity has focused almost entirely on negative emotions, but that is not because the Greeks and Romans had little to say about positive emotions. The ...
More
Scholarship on the emotions in classical antiquity has focused almost entirely on negative emotions, but that is not because the Greeks and Romans had little to say about positive emotions. The chapters in this collection show that there are representations of positive emotions—considered here under the headings of “hope,” “joy,” and “affection”—extending from archaic Greek poetry, through the philosophical schools of the Epicureans and Stoics, to the Christianity of Augustine, and while many of the literary representations give expression to positive emotion but also describe its loss, the philosophers offer a more optimistic assessment of the possibilities of attaining joy or contentment in this life. The positive emotions show some of the same features that all emotions do, but positive emotions tend to be harder to articulate. Hence the interest of the present study, which considers how positive emotions are described, their relationship to other emotions, the ways in which they are provoked or upset by circumstances, how they complicate and enrich our relationships with other people, and which kinds of positive emotion we should seek to integrate. The ancient works have a great deal to say about all of these topics, and for that reason deserve more study, both for our understanding of antiquity and for our understanding of the positive emotions in general. In attempting to break new ground, this collection is also meant to honor the distinguished work of a pioneer in the study of the emotions in antiquity, David Konstan.Less
Scholarship on the emotions in classical antiquity has focused almost entirely on negative emotions, but that is not because the Greeks and Romans had little to say about positive emotions. The chapters in this collection show that there are representations of positive emotions—considered here under the headings of “hope,” “joy,” and “affection”—extending from archaic Greek poetry, through the philosophical schools of the Epicureans and Stoics, to the Christianity of Augustine, and while many of the literary representations give expression to positive emotion but also describe its loss, the philosophers offer a more optimistic assessment of the possibilities of attaining joy or contentment in this life. The positive emotions show some of the same features that all emotions do, but positive emotions tend to be harder to articulate. Hence the interest of the present study, which considers how positive emotions are described, their relationship to other emotions, the ways in which they are provoked or upset by circumstances, how they complicate and enrich our relationships with other people, and which kinds of positive emotion we should seek to integrate. The ancient works have a great deal to say about all of these topics, and for that reason deserve more study, both for our understanding of antiquity and for our understanding of the positive emotions in general. In attempting to break new ground, this collection is also meant to honor the distinguished work of a pioneer in the study of the emotions in antiquity, David Konstan.
A. G. Long
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- February 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198748472
- eISBN:
- 9780191811098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198748472.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The sophists were some of the most important pioneers of Greek political philosophy. This paper discusses how Stoics and Epicureans engaged with sophistic thought and with previous critiques of ...
More
The sophists were some of the most important pioneers of Greek political philosophy. This paper discusses how Stoics and Epicureans engaged with sophistic thought and with previous critiques of sophistic thought. Plato’s accounts of sophists are a central object of study, because Plato and the Academy were, most probably, a key target of polemic in Stoic and Epicurean discussions of sophists. But sometimes the paper tries to get away from Plato, as for example when it considers Epicurean theories of conventions and contracts. Section 5.1 sets out the broader evidence for Stoic and Epicurean engagement with sophists, and the philosophical and/or polemical motivations for such engagement. Section 5.2 considers the Hellenistic, and particularly the Stoic, discussion of the teachability of virtue. Section 5.3 considers the origin of justice and disagreement between cities about what justice demands.Less
The sophists were some of the most important pioneers of Greek political philosophy. This paper discusses how Stoics and Epicureans engaged with sophistic thought and with previous critiques of sophistic thought. Plato’s accounts of sophists are a central object of study, because Plato and the Academy were, most probably, a key target of polemic in Stoic and Epicurean discussions of sophists. But sometimes the paper tries to get away from Plato, as for example when it considers Epicurean theories of conventions and contracts. Section 5.1 sets out the broader evidence for Stoic and Epicurean engagement with sophists, and the philosophical and/or polemical motivations for such engagement. Section 5.2 considers the Hellenistic, and particularly the Stoic, discussion of the teachability of virtue. Section 5.3 considers the origin of justice and disagreement between cities about what justice demands.
Tim O’Keefe
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198701392
- eISBN:
- 9780191770661
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198701392.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
Ancient ethicists were concerned with the proper attitude towards acquiring wealth, as well as the place of the craft of financial planning or property management (oikonomia) in the good life. The ...
More
Ancient ethicists were concerned with the proper attitude towards acquiring wealth, as well as the place of the craft of financial planning or property management (oikonomia) in the good life. The Epicureans stake out distinctive and plausible positions on these issues. The later Epicurean Philodemus contends that there is indeed a craft that allows you to obtain and manage wealth skillfully, but that cultivating and exercising that craft is incompatible with being a virtuous person and obtaining happiness. Philodemus’ views are an advance on the Socratic and Aristotelian positions on the craft of property management against which he is reacting—or so this chapter argues. By devoting himself to becoming as skillful as he can in accumulating property, the expert property manager will acquire habits and attitudes that distort his personality and disturb his peace of mind.Less
Ancient ethicists were concerned with the proper attitude towards acquiring wealth, as well as the place of the craft of financial planning or property management (oikonomia) in the good life. The Epicureans stake out distinctive and plausible positions on these issues. The later Epicurean Philodemus contends that there is indeed a craft that allows you to obtain and manage wealth skillfully, but that cultivating and exercising that craft is incompatible with being a virtuous person and obtaining happiness. Philodemus’ views are an advance on the Socratic and Aristotelian positions on the craft of property management against which he is reacting—or so this chapter argues. By devoting himself to becoming as skillful as he can in accumulating property, the expert property manager will acquire habits and attitudes that distort his personality and disturb his peace of mind.
Richard Sorabji
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199685547
- eISBN:
- 9780191765704
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199685547.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter 1 argues that the Greek term for moral conscience meant sharing knowledge with oneself, not with another, as if knowledge of the guilty secret had split one into two people, one fully ...
More
Chapter 1 argues that the Greek term for moral conscience meant sharing knowledge with oneself, not with another, as if knowledge of the guilty secret had split one into two people, one fully self-aware, the other reluctantly sharing. Soon the idea of avoiding future guilt was added. After two centuries, the metaphor went easily into Latin. After five, St Paul added the idea of conscience as a fallible reading of the moral law in our hearts, a belief, not knowledge, and a belief about oneself, a belief still motivating, because it was a belief about what it had been, or would be, wrong for one to do. This belief (believing, secret believed, or capacity for belief) could cause bites of self‐disapproval, but was not the same as those bites. It was not the voice of God, but one's own interpretation of values whose origin at first might be secular.Less
Chapter 1 argues that the Greek term for moral conscience meant sharing knowledge with oneself, not with another, as if knowledge of the guilty secret had split one into two people, one fully self-aware, the other reluctantly sharing. Soon the idea of avoiding future guilt was added. After two centuries, the metaphor went easily into Latin. After five, St Paul added the idea of conscience as a fallible reading of the moral law in our hearts, a belief, not knowledge, and a belief about oneself, a belief still motivating, because it was a belief about what it had been, or would be, wrong for one to do. This belief (believing, secret believed, or capacity for belief) could cause bites of self‐disapproval, but was not the same as those bites. It was not the voice of God, but one's own interpretation of values whose origin at first might be secular.
Gail Fine
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199577392
- eISBN:
- 9780191760969
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577392.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter discusses the Epicureans’ charge that Skeptics can’t inquire, as well as Sextus’ defense of the possibility of Skeptical inquiry. Another version of the Paradox of Skeptical Inquiry is ...
More
This chapter discusses the Epicureans’ charge that Skeptics can’t inquire, as well as Sextus’ defense of the possibility of Skeptical inquiry. Another version of the Paradox of Skeptical Inquiry is outlined and evaluated.Less
This chapter discusses the Epicureans’ charge that Skeptics can’t inquire, as well as Sextus’ defense of the possibility of Skeptical inquiry. Another version of the Paradox of Skeptical Inquiry is outlined and evaluated.
Ilaria L. E. Ramelli
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198777274
- eISBN:
- 9780191823022
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198777274.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, History of Christianity
This chapter’s investigation into philosophy begins with the sophists and Socrates. Against unnamed sophists Aristotle theorized natural slavery, here critically analysed. Slaves, women, and ...
More
This chapter’s investigation into philosophy begins with the sophists and Socrates. Against unnamed sophists Aristotle theorized natural slavery, here critically analysed. Slaves, women, and barbarians were for him defective humans. Plato and Socrates problematized slavery; Socrates’ notion of moral slavery influenced Stoicism. The Stoics are shown to be uninterested in the legitimacy of juridical slavery, but critical of Aristotle’s notion of natural slavery. The Stoic-Cynic ideal of self-sufficiency logically implied the rejection of slave ownership and wealth. Dio Chrysostom criticized slavery and poverty as unjust; Chaeremon chose voluntary poverty and owned no slaves; Epictetus was a slave. Stoics and Epicureans admitted slaves and women at school, rejecting Aristotle’s tenet of their inferiority. Sceptics were uninterested in asceticism and slavery. In Platonism, the decreasing influence of Aristotle’s views concerning slavery is detected in favour of the Stoic position, and a special interest in moral/spiritual slavery. The increasing role of asceticism in the Platonic tradition is sometimes connected with a renunciation of possessions and slave ownership. Plotinus’ behaviour was likely dictated by a concern for fellow humans. In ancient and rabbinic Judaism slavery was accepted, but the ascetic Essenes and Therapeutae denounced it as unjust and renounced owning slaves and wealth. Philo’s philosophizing description of the Therapeutae-inspired Christian philosophical asceticism.Less
This chapter’s investigation into philosophy begins with the sophists and Socrates. Against unnamed sophists Aristotle theorized natural slavery, here critically analysed. Slaves, women, and barbarians were for him defective humans. Plato and Socrates problematized slavery; Socrates’ notion of moral slavery influenced Stoicism. The Stoics are shown to be uninterested in the legitimacy of juridical slavery, but critical of Aristotle’s notion of natural slavery. The Stoic-Cynic ideal of self-sufficiency logically implied the rejection of slave ownership and wealth. Dio Chrysostom criticized slavery and poverty as unjust; Chaeremon chose voluntary poverty and owned no slaves; Epictetus was a slave. Stoics and Epicureans admitted slaves and women at school, rejecting Aristotle’s tenet of their inferiority. Sceptics were uninterested in asceticism and slavery. In Platonism, the decreasing influence of Aristotle’s views concerning slavery is detected in favour of the Stoic position, and a special interest in moral/spiritual slavery. The increasing role of asceticism in the Platonic tradition is sometimes connected with a renunciation of possessions and slave ownership. Plotinus’ behaviour was likely dictated by a concern for fellow humans. In ancient and rabbinic Judaism slavery was accepted, but the ascetic Essenes and Therapeutae denounced it as unjust and renounced owning slaves and wealth. Philo’s philosophizing description of the Therapeutae-inspired Christian philosophical asceticism.
