180125 SE Cicero De finibus (2018S)

Cicero’s work, De finibus bonorum et malorum (written in 45 BCE), consists of three dialogues, each of which deals with the ethical theory of the three most important philosophical schools of the Hellenistic era, namely the Epicureans (books 1-2), the Stoics (books 3-4), and the Academic Antiochus (book 5). The historical value of the work lies not only in the thorough and systematic presentation of the ethical theories of the three main Hellenistic schools, which are otherwise only fragmentary preserved, but also in the criticisms raised by the interlocutors, which help us understand the ancient reception of these theories. The philosophical value of Cicero’s work lies in the founding of Hellenistic ethics in elaborate conceptions of the nature of the world and of the nature of man, which means that ethical notions like that of duty (officium) and of morality (honestum) are rooted in conceptions of human nature and especially in features like human rationality. Cicero’s work has exercised considerably influence in early modern philosophy (Spinoza, Locke, Rousseau), and especially the outline of Stoic ethics has informed Kant’s ethics. In the course we will use a bilingual edition (Latin-German).