Ancient Greek and Roman Ethics

Los referentes que durante milenios han guiado a la humanidad hacia las cotas más altas de virtud están siendo reemplazados por la mediocridad de algunos influencers que venden éxito sin esfuerzo, mensaje sin sustancia y felicidad efímera. Sin embargo, la capacidad de transformación y elevación de modelos como el de Aquiles no puede ser sustituida por los famosos de las redes sociales. Eduardo Infante acude a los grandes filósofos del mundo clásico para destacar la vigencia de la virtud, una cualidad (...) que da sentido a nuestras vidas. El autor se pregunta cómo alcanzarla y transmitirla a las futuras generaciones, si es un don innato o si podemos aprenderla. Un libro de referencia para alumbrar un futuro más humano en el que vivamos con propósito. (shrink)

Two arguments in Eudemian Ethics 2 that are crucial to Aristotle’s definition of moral virtue as a mean state contain claims that Aristotle says are clear by induction. In these contexts, he explicitly appeals to examples coming from arts and sciences like gymnastic training and medicine for evidence. But Aristotle does not here, or elsewhere (at least in any extant work), including the parallel arguments in the Nicomachean Ethics, actually supply or discuss the evidence that makes these inductive arguments clear. (...) Fortunately, strong support for them can be found in the Hippocratic Corpus, especially in On Ancient Medicine and On Regimen. (shrink)

The article is based on some extracts from Cicero’s dialogic and epistolary production, prior to the death of Caesar. It deals with the meaning of ‘virtue’ first in relation to the gestation and publication of De republica, an expression of active virtue; then in relation to the forced idle phase of the Arpinate, dedicated to the activity of translation. The two phases of action and speculation appear to be respectively marked by the models of virtue embodied by the two Catos: (...) on one side the Major, on the other the Uticense. The contrasting consideration of the locality of Tusculum sums up the contradiction. The leitmotiv is therefore virtue, researched, theorised, variously understood and interpreted by Arpinate with the changed political and family conditions. (shrink)

I argue that a circa first century B.C./A.D. anonymous epistolary comic novel depicting a fictional interaction between Hippocrates of Cos and Democritus of Abdera contains an insightful imitation of Democritus that can cast light on the historical Democritus’s thought, including his thought on the touchy subject of appropriate and inappropriate laughter. The only thing certain about Democritus’s view of laughter is that he denounced laughter at human misfortune as inappropriate. The later legend of him as laughing at everything and everyone (...) indiscriminately is a later distortion of his view which the author of the comic novel seems concerned to counteract. (shrink)

Los filósofos presocráticos.-Los sofistas.-Socrates.-Platón.-Los cínicos y los cirenaicos.-Aristóteles.-Los epicúreos.-Los estoicos.-Conclusión.

Why should we do good deeds for each other, or to what end? Ancient ethicists often declare personal happiness as the highest good or telos and explore its nature and the means to achieve it. But in De officiis, the focus shifts towards the community, particularly the res publica. Cicero is primarily concerned with its formation or preservation, viewing beneficence (beneficentia/liberalitas/benignitas) as a key tool in this endeavor. The idea that beneficence is advantageous for the community is not a new (...) or contested one. However, that the community is its primary goal, taking precedence over personal happiness, has not been systematically explored until now. This article takes on that task, comparing Cicero’s conception of beneficence with Seneca’s. I argue that for Cicero, the primary goal of giving and receiving benefits is the formation or preservation of the community. In contrast, Seneca mainly demonstrates how these deeds contribute to personal happiness. (shrink)

Why should we do good deeds for each other, or to what end? Ancient ethicists often declare personal happiness as the highest good or telos and explore its nature and the means to achieve it. But in De officiis, the focus shifts towards the community, particularly the res publica. Cicero is primarily concerned with its formation or preservation, viewing “beneficiality” (beneficentia/liberalitas/benignitas) as a key tool in this endeavor. The idea that beneficiality is advantageous for the community is not a new (...) or contested one. However, that the community is its primary goal, taking precedence over personal happiness, has not been systematically explored until now. This article takes on that task, comparing Cicero’s conception of beneficiality with Seneca’s. I argue that for Cicero, the primary goal of giving and receiving benefits is the formation or preservation of the community. In contrast, Seneca mainly demonstrates how these deeds contribute to personal happiness. (shrink)

Lejos de ser lo político una cuestión secundaria o extraña a la filosofía epicúrea, se arguye de este ser un componente esencial de su pensamiento que se presenta en el trato de la amistad como rasgo característico e ineludible para el constructo social decara a los conflictos internos y externos de la Grecia del siglo IV a.C. Desde esta óptica, un interés por precisar el alcance ético-político de la φιλíα (filopolitismo) tan referido en la antigüedad, pero desde un filósofo al (...) que se le endilga la defensa de apoliticidad (O’Keefe,2010; Christensen, 2020), el actual estudio explora argumentos que hacen de ese término un fundamento práctico que ofrece las mejores condiciones para una vida social en tanto puede ofrendar patrones de conducta en lo que respecta a vínculos comunitarios. Para ello se recurre al análisis de textos que se conservan de Epicuro los cuales tienen un tratamiento de la amistad como la Carta a Meneceo (Ad Menoeceum), las Máximas Capitales (Ratæ Sententiae) y las Sentencias Vaticanas (Gnomologio Vaticano), pues se trata de un estudio documental el cual tiene por fin la revisión y análisis de fuentes bibliográficas. (shrink)