Therapeutic Deception: Cicero and Augustine on the Myth of Philosophic Happiness
While many scholars have explored the Ciceronian roots of Augustine's thought, the influence of De Finibus on De ciuitate dei has, as yet, remained unexamined. Dismissed by Testard as abstract and scholastic, De Finibus has long remained in the shadow of Cicero's other work of moral philos...
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| Формат: | Электронный ресурс Статья |
| Язык: | Английский |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Опубликовано: |
Philosophy Documentation Center
[2019]
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| В: |
Augustinian studies
Год: 2019, Том: 50, Выпуск: 1, Страницы: 13-42 |
| Индексация IxTheo: | KAB Раннее христианство VA Философия |
| Другие ключевые слова: | B
Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
B CICERO, Marcus Tullius, 106 B.C.-43 B.C B Ethics B Happiness B DE Finibus (Book) B AUGUSTINE, Saint, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 B DE ciuitate dei (Book) |
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Volltext (doi) |
| Parallel Edition: | Не электронный вид
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| Итог: | While many scholars have explored the Ciceronian roots of Augustine's thought, the influence of De Finibus on De ciuitate dei has, as yet, remained unexamined. Dismissed by Testard as abstract and scholastic, De Finibus has long remained in the shadow of Cicero's other work of moral philosophy, Tusculanae Dispuationes. This article reconsiders the nature of De Finibus and demonstrates its importance for De ciuitate dei. It begins by arguing that the dialogue is actually a meta-commentary on philosophic dogmatism, showing how each of the schools that Cicero's interlocutors represent - i.e., the Epicureans, Stoics, and Peripatetics - claim certainty about the Wise Man's happiness. At the heart of the dialogue's drama is Cicero's skepticism about this claim. This article then shows how Augustine picks up on Cicero's explanation as to why the adherents of these schools cling so tightly to their belief in the Wise Man's happiness. Echoing Cicero, Augustine suggests that the reason for this belief is therapeutic. Going beyond Cicero, however, he diagnoses it as a symptom of pride, arguing that what the philosophers really need is not a model of self-sufficient virtue, but a Mediator. The article ends by briefly considering how Cicero might respond to Augustine's position. |
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| ISSN: | 2153-7917 |
| Второстепенные работы: | Enthalten in: Augustinian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5840/augstudies20191250 |