DOCSLIB.ORG

The Wisdom of the Stoics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Wisdom of the Stoics WISDOM OF THE STOICS • ' Frances and Henry Hazlitt UNIVERSITY PRESSOF AMERICA Copyright 1984, by Frances and Henry Hazlitt University Press of America, ™ Inc. 4720 Boston Way Lanham. MD 20706 3 Henrietta Street London WC2E 8LU England All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: The Wisdom of the Stoics. 1. Stoics—Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Hazlitt, Frances Kanes. II. Hazlitt, Henry, 1894- III. Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, ca. 4 B.C.-65. Selections. English. 1984. IV. Epictetus. Selections. English. 1984. V. Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, 121-180. Selections. English. 1984. B528.W54 1984 188 84-3493 ISBN 0-8191-3870-3 (alk. paper) ISBN 0-8191-3871-1 (pbk.: alk. paper) All University Press of America books are produced on acid-free paper which exceeds the minimum standards set by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Seneca 3. Epictetus 4. Epictetus: The Enchiridion 5. Marcus Aurelius INTRODUCTION The Stoic philosophy was founded by Zeno, a Phoenician (c, 320-c. 250 B.C.), but nothing by him has come down to us except a few fragmentary quotations. He was followed by Cleanthes, then by Chrysippus, and still later by Panaetius and Posidonus. But though Chrysippus, for example, is said to have written 705 books, practically nothing is extant by any of these philosophers except in second-hand accounts. Only three of the ancient Stoics, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, survive in complete books. None of the three has ever had a large audience. The history of their reputations is curious. In the seventeenth century Seneca was certainly the best known. Then, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, he was almost completely forgot- ten, and popularity alternated between Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Under the influence of Matthew Arnold, the latter became a sort of cultural "must" for mid-Victorians. As an example of what was being written in the early years of this century, I quote from one of the self-improvement books written by the novelist Arnold Bennett: I suppose there are some thousands of authors who have written with more or less sincerity on the management of the human machine. But the two which, for me, stand out easily above all the rest are Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Epictetus.... Aurelius is assuredly regarded as the greatest of writers in the human machine school, and not to read him daily is considered by many to be a bad habit. As a confession his work stands alone. But as a practical 'Bradshaw' of existence, I would put the discourses of Epictetus before M. Aurelius....He is brimming over with actuality for readers of the year 1908. Nevertheless [Aurelius] is of course to be read, and re-read continually. When you have gone through Epictetus --a single page or paragraph per day, well masticated and digested, suffices -- you can go through M. Aurelius, and then you can return to Epictetus, and so on, morning by morning, or night by night, till your life's end. 1 Two things are worth remarking about this passage. First, it presents both writers simply as guides to living; it nowhere mentions their Stoic philosophy or its implications. And second, it nowhere mentions Seneca. In this it was typical not only of Arnold Bennett's own frequent references to the two later Stoics but to the references of his contemporaries and those of other writers down to the present day. Yet Seneca was the first of the three great Stoic philosophers whose writings are still extant. He lived half a century before Epictetus and more than a century before Marcus. His output was far greater than that of either of his successors, and he surpassed them in purely literary gifts. In his writings on philosophy one memorable aphorism follows another. There are almost none of the obscurities that one so often encounters in Epictetus and Marcus. His long neglect seems all but unaccountable. It is the purpose of this volume to make available generous selections from all three of the great Stoic philosophers. So far as the editors know, this has not been done elsewhere. There are only one or two books that even bring reasonably adequate excerpts of Epictetus and Marcus together; most often readers have had to find them in separate volumes. And adequate selections from Seneca's writings on Stoicism do not seem to exist in any book at present in print. Moreover, most readers today, we are convinced, will much prefer to read selections from each of the 1 The Human Machine, 1908. great Stoics rather than have to confront their output in its entirety. Because of the very way in which their work was composed or reported, it is full of repetitions. The Meditations of Marcus, for example, were apparently a journal, kept solely for his own eyes, in which he put down each evening or morning some reflection, resolve, or piece of advice to himself, without looking back to see whether he had written substantially the same thing a week or a month before. Again, nothing that has come down to us from Epictetus was written by him directly; it is the record of his discourses taken down by his disciple Arrian. In consequence, when Epictetus delivered very similar harangues to different audiences on different occasions, we have the record of each. Seneca, finally, repeated himself again and again and was conscious of it. He excused himself by remarking that "he does but inculcate over and over the same counsels to those that over and over commit the same faults." So selection seemed to the present editors both necessary and desirable, not only greatly to reduce repetition or to minimize obscurities but in order to concentrate on what is most representative or most memorable. Of course there is no way of selecting "the best" objectively. Selection must necessarily depend to a large extent on the judgment and taste of the editors; and with so much richness to choose from, many decisions on what to put in or leave out had to be arbitrary. We can only plead that we have been as conscientious and "objective" as we know how. We have taken approximately equal selections from Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, but a slightly greater amount from Seneca, to compensate for the comparative inaccessibility of his work and for the previous undeserved neglect into which it has fallen. The three great Stoics came from astonishingly different backgrounds. Seneca (c. 4 B.C. to A.D. 65) was a Spaniard who was brought to Rome at an early age. He studied rhetoric and philosophy, and soon gained a reputation at the Bar. He was banished in A.D. 41 by the Emperor Claudius, but recalled eight years later by Agrippina to become tutor to her son Domitius, afterwards the Emperor Nero, then 11 years old. When Nero came to the throne at 17, Seneca's power was still further increased. Though a Stoic, professedly despising riches, he amassed a huge fortune. This was probably a mistake. His presence in time became irksome to Nero, and his enormous wealth excited his cupidity. Finally, in A.D. 65 Nero charged Seneca with complicity in a conspiracy against him, and ordered him to commit suicide. Tactitus describes the scene: "Undismayed, he asked for tablets to make his will. When this was refused by the centurion, he turned to his friends and said that, since he was prevented from rewarding their services, he would leave them the only thing, and yet the best thing, that he had to leave -- the pattern of his life....At the same time he reminded his weeping friends of their duty to be strong....asking them what had become of the precepts of wisdom, of the philosophy which for so many years they had studied in the face of impending evils....Then he embraced his wife" -- and slit his wrists. He was very prolific, and wrote altogether the equivalent of more than twenty volumes, including, in addition to his essays on practical ethics and other works on philosophy, nine tragedies, many satires and epigrams, and books on natural science, astronomy and meteorology. Little is known about Epictetus. There is no agreement even about the years of his birth or death. The first has been set by various writers anywhere between A.D. 50 and 60, and the second between A.D. 100 and 135. He was probably from Hierapolis in Phrygia. As a boy he was a slave in Rome in the house of Epaphroditus, a favorite of Nero's. On receiving his freedom, he became a professor of philosophy, which he had learned from attending the lectures of the Stoic Musonius Rufus. He taught at Rome, but was expelled with other philosophers by Domitian in A.D. 90, and then went to Nicopolis in Epirus, where he appears to have spent the rest of his life. He was lame, weak, and chronically poor. A story has it that one day his master started to twist his leg. Epictetus, smiling, told him: "If you go on, you will break my leg." This happened; and Epictetus continued, just as calmly: "Did I not tell you that you would break my leg?" Whether this actually happened we do not know; but it would be fully in accord with what we do know of the philos- opher's character. Epictetus wrote nothing. His teaching was transmitted by a pupil, Arrian, who recorded his discourses and compiled the short manual, the Enchiridion. Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 121 to 180) was at the other end of the social scale.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Stoics and the Practical: a Roman Reply to Aristotle
    DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences 8-2013 The Stoics and the practical: a Roman reply to Aristotle Robin Weiss DePaul University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd Recommended Citation Weiss, Robin, "The Stoics and the practical: a Roman reply to Aristotle" (2013). College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 143. https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/143 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE STOICS AND THE PRACTICAL: A ROMAN REPLY TO ARISTOTLE A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August, 2013 BY Robin Weiss Department of Philosophy College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences DePaul University Chicago, IL - TABLE OF CONTENTS - Introduction……………………..............................................................................................................p.i Chapter One: Practical Knowledge and its Others Technê and Natural Philosophy…………………………….....……..……………………………….....p. 1 Virtue and technical expertise conflated – subsequently distinguished in Plato – ethical knowledge contrasted with that of nature in
    [Show full text]
  • Lives Stoics
    LIVES of the STOICS The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius RYAN HOLIDAY and STEPHEN HANSELMAN Authors of The Daily Stoic PROFILE BOOKS Lives of the Stoics prelims.indd 5 05/08/2020 13:06 Lives_9780525541875_all_5p_r1.indd v 28/07/20 2:18 PM First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Profile Books Ltd 29 Cloth Fair London EC1A 7JQ www.profilebooks.com First published in the United States of America in 2020 by Portfolio/Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC Copyright © Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, 2020 Illustrations by Rebecca DeFeld. Used with permission. Book design by Daniel Lagin 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A. The moral right of the authors has been asserted. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978 1 78816 260 9 eISBN 978 1 78283 550 9 Audiobook 978 1 78283 776 3 Lives of the Stoics prelims.indd 6 05/08/2020 15:05 CONTENTS Introduction ix Zeno the Prophet 1 Cleanthes the Apostle 13 Aristo the Challenger 27 Chrysippus the Fighter 39 Zeno the Maintainer 51 Diogenes the Diplomat 55 Antipater the Ethicist 65 Panaetius the Connector 75 Publius
    [Show full text]
  • The Self-Sufficiency of the Good Man Against the Need for Friendship
    THE SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF THE GOOD MAN AGAINST THE NEED FOR FRIENDSHIP. A DISCUSSION CONCERNING THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP FOR THE GOOD MAN IN CICERO. CORY SLOAN SUBMITTED WITH A VIEW TO OBTAIN THE DEGREE OF M.LITT. NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, MAYNOOTH DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY, FACULTY OR ARTS, CELTIC STUDIES, AND PHILOSOPHY AUGUST 2012 HEAD OF DEPARTMENT DR. MICHAEL DUNNE SUPERVISED BY DR. AMOS EDELHEIT 1 Summary Cicero wrote in Book Three of On Duties, that the Stoic sage being absolutely good and and perfect was the only one that could be truly happy. For his happiness was based in his virtue and as he had perfect virtue, he had perfect and lasting happiness. Yet the Peripatetics saw that happiness was not a self-sufficient idea and was instead an amalgamation of external goods. Virtue for them was a factor that contributed to happiness, for the Stoics it was essential for happiness. It would appear on inital observation that the life of the Stoic sage was a solitary one, aloof from the rest of humanity. Yet the Stoics maintained that this was the best and happiest form of life, a life lived in accordance with Nature. However, the Peripatetics maintained that nature loves nothing solitary and man is not a solitary animal. In order for him to fullfill his natural end and achieve eudaimonia he would natually be drawn towards the company of others. Cicero highlights the tension between Stoic idealism and Peripatetic pragmatism in his discussion on happiness. When he essentially he askes in Book Five of the Tusculan Disputations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fragments of Zeno and Cleanthes, but Having an Important
    ,1(70 THE FRAGMENTS OF ZENO AND CLEANTHES. ftonton: C. J. CLAY AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE MARIA LANE. ambriDse: DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO. ltip>ifl: F. A. BROCKHAUS. #tto Hork: MACMILLAX AND CO. THE FRAGMENTS OF ZENO AND CLEANTHES WITH INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATORY NOTES. AX ESSAY WHICH OBTAINED THE HARE PRIZE IX THE YEAR 1889. BY A. C. PEARSON, M.A. LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. LONDON: C. J. CLAY AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE. 1891 [All Rights reserved.] Cambridge : PBIXTKIi BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SONS, AT THK UNIVERSITY PRKSS. PREFACE. S dissertation is published in accordance with thr conditions attached to the Hare Prize, and appears nearly in its original form. For many reasons, however, I should have desired to subject the work to a more under the searching revision than has been practicable circumstances. Indeed, error is especially difficult t<> avoid in dealing with a large body of scattered authorities, a the majority of which can only be consulted in public- library. to be for The obligations, which require acknowledged of Zeno and the present collection of the fragments former are Cleanthes, are both special and general. The Philo- soon disposed of. In the Neue Jahrbticher fur Wellmann an lofjie for 1878, p. 435 foil., published article on Zeno of Citium, which was the first serious of Zeno from that attempt to discriminate the teaching of Wellmann were of the Stoa in general. The omissions of the supplied and the first complete collection fragments of Cleanthes was made by Wachsmuth in two Gottingen I programs published in 187-i LS75 (Commentationes s et II de Zenone Citiensi et Cleaitt/ie Assio).
    [Show full text]
  • Epictetus, Stoicism, and Slavery
    Epictetus, Stoicism, and Slavery Defense Date: March 29, 2011 By: Angela Marie Funk Classics Department Advisor: Dr. Peter Hunt (Classics) Committee: Dr. Jacqueline Elliott (Classics) and Dr. Claudia Mills (Philosophy) Funk 1 Abstract: Epictetus was an ex-slave and a leading Stoic philosopher in the Roman Empire during the second-century. His devoted student, Arrian, recorded Epictetus’ lectures and conversations in eight books titled Discourses, of which only four are extant. As an ex- slave and teacher, one expects to see him deal with the topic of slavery and freedom in great detail. However, few scholars have researched the relationship of Epictetus’ personal life and his views on slavery. In order to understand Epictetus’ perspective, it is essential to understand the political culture of his day and the social views on slavery. During his early years, Epictetus lived in Rome and was Epaphroditus’ slave. Epaphroditus was an abusive master, who served Nero as an administrative secretary. Around the same period, Seneca was a tutor and advisor to Nero. He was a Stoic philosopher, who counseled Nero on political issues and advocated the practice of clemency. In the mid to late first-century, Seneca spoke for a fair and kind treatment of slaves. He held a powerful position not only as an advisor to Nero, but also as a senator. While he promoted the humane treatment of slaves, he did not actively work to abolish slavery. Epaphroditus and Seneca both had profound influences in the way Epictetus viewed slaves and ex-slaves, relationships of former slaves and masters, and the meaning of freedom.
    [Show full text]
  • The Influence of Panaetius on Polybius Outstanding Greek Authors of the Time, the Philosopher Panaetius and the Historian Polybius Belonged to His Circle
    Pázmány Péter Catholic University I. Background of the research and raising the problems Faculty of Humanities Doctoral School in History Workshop in History of Thought In the 2nd century B.C. the Roman Empire became the dominant power in the Mediterranean area. The growing number of subjected countries and first of all the conquest of Macedonia and Hellas brought considerable changes in regard to the culture of Gergely Mohay Rome, too. Scipio Aemilianus played an important role both in the military-political events and in the cultural revival. Two of the most The Influence of Panaetius on Polybius outstanding Greek authors of the time, the philosopher Panaetius and the historian Polybius belonged to his circle. It is justified in many Doctoral (Phd) Dissertation ways to suppose that they had a similar worldview and thought Piliscsaba, 2010 similarly about several ethical and political questions. This presumption is supported in the first instance by our knowledge of their lives. Both of them were citizens of Greek states deprived of their actual independence by Rome while they were still young (after the third Macedonian war). The families of them both played RESEARCH METHODS AND RESULTS important political role in their homeland. Panaetius as well as Polybius spent many years in Rome beside Scipio Aemilianus. Besides, they were present as his companions at events that were significant in the history of the period. They both probably saw these events from a point of view that was not considerably different from Scipio’s. So because of the similarity of their experiences, walk of life and aquaintanceship their political standpoint could more or less be akin about the most important political questions concerning Director of the doctoral school and the workshop: Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • The Influence of the Platonic Dialogues on Stoic Ethics from Zeno to Panaetius of Rhodes1
    chapter 2 The Influence of the Platonic Dialogues on Stoic Ethics from Zeno to Panaetius of Rhodes1 Francesca Alesse In order to delineate and understand the reception of Plato’s thought and work in early and middle Stoicism, it is necessary to make two preliminary observations. The first is that Stoic philosophy is strongly anti-Platonic in its metaphysical, psychological and epistemological foundations. Stoicism puts forth a materialistic monism based upon the principle according to which the corporeal alone exists because it alone “acts and is acted upon”.2 Stoic ontology is monistic and materialistic, openly and explicitly opposed to the Platonic. As a consequence of this ontology, Stoicism considers the human soul, in all its cognitive and moral faculties, as corporeal,3 as well as the divinity itself.4 The divinity is defined as the active principle (poioun) that generates and per- vades nature, remaining immanently present in it for the whole duration of cosmic cycle.5 From the logical and epistemological viewpoint, Stoicism holds an empirical and sensualistic theory of truth that denies any kind of existence, separate or immanent, to universal notions, reducing them to mental entities (ennoemata).6 On the psychological and anthropological plane finally, early Stoicism holds a kind of psychological monism allowing for distinct psycho- logical and physical functions but no distinction between the rational and de- siring soul,7 regarding instead passion, initially considered a vice, as a mistaken 1 I sincerely wish to thank Harold Tarrant and François Renaud who have revised the first ver- sion of my contribution, and Danielle Layne for reviewing the final version.
    [Show full text]
  • Seneca-Letters.Pdf
    CLARENDON LATER ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS Series editors: Jonathan Barnes, Universite´ de Paris IV—Sorbonne and A. A. Long, University of California, Berkeley SENECA SELECTED PHILOSOPHICAL LETTERS Seneca’s Letters to Lucilius are a rich source of information about ancient Stoicism, an influential work for early modern philosophers, and a fascinating philosophical document in their own right. This selection of the letters aims to include those which are of greatest philosophical interest, especially those which highlight the debates between Stoics and Platonists or Aristotelians in the first century AD, and the issue, still important today, of how technical philosophical enquiry is related to the various purposes for which philosophy is practised. In addition to examining the philosophical content of each letter, Brad Inwood’s commentary discusses the literary and historical background of the letters and to their relationship with other prose works by Seneca. Seneca is the earliest Stoic author for whom we have access to a large number of complete works, and these works were highly influential in later centuries. He was also a politically influential advisor to the Roman emperor Nero and a celebrated author of prose and verse. His philosophical acuity and independence of mind make his works exciting and challenging for the modern reader. Brad Inwood is Professor of Classics and Philosophy at the University of Toronto. PUBLISHEDINTHESERIES Alcinous: The Handbook of Platonism John Dillon Epictetus: Discourses, Book Robert Dobbin Galen: On the Therapeutic Method, Books I and II R. J. Hankinson Porphyry: Introduction Jonathan Barnes Seneca: Selected Philosophical Letters Brad Inwood Sextus Empiricus: Against the Ethicists Richard Bett Sextus Empiricus: Against the Grammarians David Blank SENECA SELECTED PHILOSOPHICAL LETTERS Translated with an Introduction and Commentary by BRAD INWOOD 1 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
    [Show full text]
  • The Prince and His Tutor: Candour and Affection
    The Prince and his Tutor: Candour and Affection Miriam Griffin Introduction I first met Hannah when she came as a graduate student to Somerville College, to work for an Oxford doctorate. I was her college adviser, and the subject of her thesis was letters of recommendation. I hope that the following account of the correspondence of Fronto and Marcus Aurelius will be thought an appropriate tribute to those early beginnings of Hannah’s high distinction as a scholar and of our warm friendship that has lasted ever since. Like Marcus Aurelius, she has a genius for creating networks of friends. Fronto’s Correspondence There are references to M. Cornelius Fronto as Marcus’ teacher of rhetoric in the Historia Augusta: Marcus 24-5 and Verus 2.5, and in the historian Cassius Dio (71.35.1), but the principal evidence is in Book I of Marcus’ Meditations and, of course, in their correspondence. ‘Prince’ in my title may suggest Marcus’ pre-accession status as Caesar, but mention will also be made of the letters between the Emperor and his former tutor, and even of Emperors, since Marcus’ adoptive brother, known as Lucius Verus after becoming joint Emperor in 161 AD, was also a pupil of Fronto. This correspondence as a whole is quite varied in subject matter, contributing much to social and cultural history and to the study of ancient literary tastes and techniques; it is also entertaining, as there is a lot of humour and teasing in the relationship between Fronto and his pupils, as well as much irony — not always fully appreciated.1 It is natural that less literary and philosophical attention has been paid to these letters, in comparison with those of Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny, given the Herculean efforts that have been necessary to recover the text and establish some kind of chronology.
    [Show full text]
  • Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus
    Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity Herausgeber/Editor: CHRISTOPH MARKSCHIES (Berlin) Beirat/ Advisory Board HUBERT CANCIK (Berlin) • GIOVANNI CASADIO (Salerno) SUSANNA ELM (Berkeley) • JOHANNES HAHN (Münster) JÖRG RÜPKE (Erfurt) 33 Johan C. Thorn Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus Text, Translation, and Commentary Mohr Siebeck JOHAN C.THOM, born 1954; studied Classics at the Universities of Stellenbosch (BA 1974) and Pretoria (MA 1980); New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the University of Chicago (PhD 1990); teaches Greek Language and Literature at the University of Stellenbosch, Professor of Classics since 1997; recipient of an Alexan- der von Humboldt Fellowship (Tübingen, 1995) and a Visiting Membership of the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, 2001-2002). ISBN 3-16-149174-2 ISBN-13 978-3-16-149174-0 ISSN 1436-3003 (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum) Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbiblio- graphie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://iinb.d-nb.dc. Unrevised Paperback Edition 2006. © 2005 by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher's written permission. This applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was typeset by Martin Fischer in Tübingen using Bembo typeface, printed by Guide-Druck in Tübingen on non-aging paper and bound by Buchbinderei Held in Rottenburg. Printed in Germany. For Sjarlene Preface Although the Hymn to Zeus is often cited as one of the most important docu- ments of early Stoic philosophy — indeed the only text to survive more or less intact - it has not yet received a detailed treatment in a monograph by itself.
    [Show full text]
  • Virtue Ethics" and the Problem of Advising Fools1
    Work in progress, for presentation at Lewis & Clark College, Nov. 2010. Please do not quote without permission. COMMENTS WELCOME "VIRTUE ETHICS" AND THE PROBLEM OF ADVISING FOOLS1 ERIC BROWN Department of Philosophy Washington University in St. Louis [email protected] ABSTRACT: "Virtue ethics" tells us to do what the virtuous person would do in our circumstances. But if we are not virtuous—if we are "fools"—then the virtuous person would not be in our circumstances. What, then, can virtue theory say to advise a fool about what to do? I quickly suggest reasons to be pessimistic about recent approaches to this problem, and then I turn to the ancients' eudaimonism for a fresh alternative. The ancient Socratics, including especially the Stoics, counsel not causally promoting one's virtue or trying to follow "v-rules" but approximating virtue. I argue that Stoic psychopathology offers considerable help in making sense of how fools might approximate virtue and how advisers might use Socratic eudaimonism's conception of virtue to guide fools to the best action in their circumstances. 1. The Problem of Advising Fools Some people believe that ancient Greek and Roman philosophy provides a plausible alternative to modern moral philosophy. Instead of thinking that one should act in accordance with the right moral principles or that one should act so as to promote the best consequences, these reactionaries suggest that one should act as a virtuous person would act in one's circumstances (see, e.g., Hursthouse 1999). But there are problems with this formula, several of which are rooted in the difference between virtuous persons and the rest of us.
    [Show full text]
  • Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
    MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS “As the earth is a pinpoint in infinite space, so the life of man is a pinpoint in infinite time — a knife- edge between eternities.” — Marcus Aurelius, MEDITATIONES 50 BCE By this point the rise of Alexandria and the growth of Roman power had overshadowed the political and economic importance of the Greek city states. Athens was no longer the philosophical center of the Mediterranean world. The Stoics were still being attracted to their Stoa there, but were coming there from elsewhere. Zeno had come to the Stoa in Athens from Citium on Cyprus, and had been succeeded by Cleanthes from Assos in Asia Minor and Chrysippus from Soli in Asia Minor. The Late Stoa would be entirely Roman, featuring such names as Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. The rich scholar Panaetius of Rhodes, who had studied under Crates the Stoic at the library of Pergamum, became a student of Diogenes of Sinope in Athens but then passed on to the capital city of the Mediterranean world, Rome, where he and Scipio the Younger were at the center of a circle of philosophical admirers. After the death of Scipio, he had assumed leadership of the Stoic school and had returned to the Stoa in Athens for the final two decades of his life. His most illustrious student had been Posidonius of Apamea, a city in northern Syria, who died during this year on the island of Rhodes near the southwestern tip of Turkey. HDT WHAT? INDEX MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS MARCUS AURELIUS 121 CE Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who would succeed the Emperor Antonius Pius, was born in Rome.
    [Show full text]