Philosophy in Rome

Question 1

Alexander

Answer 1

• tutored by Aristotle until 16
• succeeded his father at 20 for the throne of Macedon
• never lost in battle

Question 2

Platonic Academy

Answer 2

• Plato got the land when he was 30
• no tuition or formal curriculum

Question 3

The “Old Academy”

Answer 3

• Plato’s immediate successors: Speusippus, Xenocrates, Poleman, and Crates
• Aristotle wasnt invited to be a scholarch
• site for dialectical exercise, mathematical investigations, and scientific-theoretical inquiry

Question 4

The “Middle Academy”

Answer 4

• Around 266 BC Arcesilaus of Pitane became Scholarch.
• Under him the Academy strongly emphasized a version of Academic skepticism closely similar to Pyrrhonism

Question 5

The “New Academy”

Answer 5

• Carneades of Cyrene takes over in 155 BC, the fourth ‘Scholarch’ after Arcesilaus
• The school was still largely skeptical, denying the possibility of knowing an absolute truth
• But Carneades had studied Stoicism so the school took on those colorations of skepticism, too

Question 6

The “Academy” is destroyed

Answer 6

• In 86 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla laid siege to Athens and conquered the city, causing much destruction
• The ‘academy’ lands were razed to the ground, and a substantive portion of the Athenian citizens were killed

Question 7

Neo-Platonism

Answer 7

• revival of Platonic Philosophy (Platonism)
• most important was the Roman-Egyptian philosopher, Plotinus who wrote the Enneads
• Christianity becomes dominant in the 4th century

Question 8

Skepticism after Pyrrho

Answer 8

• Pyrrho lived around 4th century BC
• Sextus Empiricus wrote stuff about him and the skeptical school
• skeptics present equal arguments to both sides of an issue
• epoche: suspension of judgment
• ataraxia: tranquility and freedom from fear

Question 9

Epicureanism

Answer 9

• Epicurus was an atomist and a materialist
• denied the separate existence of souls and gods
• Pleasure is the main goal (telos) of life
• pleasure: absence of pain and fear
• seek ataraxia

Question 10

Stoicism (Greek)

Answer 10

• Zeno of Citium: founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, Athens
• emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of virtue in accordance with nature
• tripartite study of Stoic philosophy: ethics, physics, logic
• taken over by Chrysippus of Soli

Question 11

Stoicism (Roman)

Answer 11

• became important during the time of the transition between the Republic and the Empire
• Imperial period: shift away from theoretical aspects (physics/logic) toward practical treatment of ethics
• Seneca: most important, tutored emporer Nero

Question 12

Imperial Rome’s Unofficial Philosophy:

Answer 12

Stoicism

Question 13

Epictetus

Answer 13

• born a slave
• studied with the Stoic, Musonius Rufus in Nero’s house
• freed after Nero’s death
• banished from Rome, but he founded a Stoic school in Greece

Question 14

Premises of Roman Stoicism

Answer 14

1. human being is rational (use impressions in a reflective manner)
2. rational human being has ‘free volition (will)’
3. if we wish to be happy, we need to recognize what is and what is not within the sphere of our volition