Reading Seneca: Stoic Philosophy at Rome

Summary

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The specific philosophical themes and issues connecting the collection of essays in this volume include: moral psychology and philosophy of mind (in "Seneca and Psychological Dualism," "The Will in Seneca," and "Seneca on Freedom and Autonomy"); Seneca's use of the distinction between the idealized sage and the non-sage or "ordinary man" in moral and epistemic matters (in "Politics and Paradox in Seneca's De Beneficiis"); the role of moral rules and their relationship to both the natural law and the situational variability involved in concrete moral reasoning (in "Rules and Reasoning in Stoic Ethics," "Moral Judgment in Seneca," and "Natural Law in Seneca"); the ontological status of the human person in relation to animals and the divine (in "God and Human Knowledge in Seneca's Natural Questions"); the nature of rationality (in "Reason, Rationalization, and Happiness"); Seneca's theoretical and practical concern with moral selfimprovement and character development and their relationship to living a happy life; and finally, Seneca's relationship to both his philosophical predecessors, especially the Stoics, Plato, and Aristotle, and his influence on subsequent Western thinkers.

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Extract

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Reading Seneca: Stoic Philosophy at Rome

INWOOD, Brad. Reading Seneca: Stoic Philosophy at Rome. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. xvi + 376 pp. Cloth, $85- This book is a collection of twelve essays, including two new pieces, "Getting to Goodness," and "Seneca and Self-assertion," representing fif...

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