Hellenism-Roman-Stoicism Hellenism-Roman-Stoicism.pptx

hellenism roman stoicism

1. objectives 1 . Describe the transition from the Greek city-state to the Roman empire through a view of the time & place 2. Identify the political thinkers through their biography 3. Enumerate the political ideas of the thinkers 4. Justify the political theory against the person’s background, time & place 1

2. The transition from Greek city-state to an empire 2 Presentation Title 20XX

3. 300-200 BC With a large empire composed of a variety of nations & different laws, the possibility of a universal law emerged. The welfare of the individual was no longer bound up to his city & no obligation to participate politically 2 leading philosophies developed: Epicureanism & Stoicism. Then Roman Stoicism 3 Presentation Title 20XX

4. Epicureanism A belief that the universe was chaotic & anarchic composed of atoms & the void: All knowledge was acquired by sense perception. There were an infinite number of worlds; the gods lived in the voids as they were concerned about human affairs. They must be envied not to be feared or looked at with superstition stoicism This started with the premise of a natural order of the universe: a process of change that was also divine. The man was a part of this divine order, capable of understanding it & its laws through reason possessed by all men 4 Presentation Title 20XX

5. Roman Stoicism This was formulated by the Hellenists but was adopted by the Romans who emerged some of their conservative, chauvinistic characteristics with it. It provided them with a civilized ethic in theory, often not practiced They emphasized emotional restraint & refused to give vent to pity & grief, display of courage, especially in the face of death, like those in Shakespeare’s Volumnia in Coriolanus It implied to the Hellenists a quietistic philosophy for the Upper Roman class who adopted it, rationalizing the need to live under oppressive rule at a time where there is little cultural, philosophical, or agricultural development 5 Presentation Title 20XX

6. Stoicism It implied limitation rather than fulfillment Happiness depended on the absence of desires It was a personal, not asocial philosophy Hierarchical status in society & that everyone was allotted a function was taken for granted If there was any commitment, it was to the maintenance of conditions as they were Baudelaire said that Stoicism was a religion with only 1 sacrament, suicide 6 Presentation Title 20XX

7. Works of this period Seneca -5 BC –Stoic Philosophy Seneca was from a Spanish wealthy family Teacher of a tyrant Nero Advocated a simple life, disdain for material wealth, self-sufficiency of the philosopher, need for spiritual discipline & the need for the wise man to serve society Marcus Aurelius- Meditations He was emperor of Rome between 161 & 180 AD. The Meditations are notes made while resting in his campaigns rather than a treatise expected of a philosopher-king Not concerned about political or social reform His writings are of resignation, & a view that all is for the best 7 Hellenism & Roman Stoicism 20XX

8. Stoic Philosophy Avoid luxury , avoid debilitating prosperity which makes man’s minds soggy and which, unless something intervenes to remind them of the human condition, renders them comatose as in unending inebriation. All excesses are injurious , but immoderate prosperity is the most dangerous. Scorn fortune . Study death. 8 Seneca’s Stoic Philosophy 20XX

9. Stoic Philosophy Honors, monuments, all that ambition has blazoned in inscriptions or piled high in stone will speedily sink to ruin, there is nothing that the lapse of time does not dilapidate and exterminate. But the dedications of philosophy are impregnable: age cannot erase their memory or diminish their force. Each succeeding generation will hold them in ever higher reverence; What is close at hand is subject to envy, whereas the distant we can admire without prejudice. 9 Seneca’s Stoic Philosophy 20XX

10. It is never possible to erect defenses against diversity & malignity of events strong enough to prevent a great spread of sail from being blasted by gales. We are chained to fortune …All life is bondage. Man must therefore habituate himself to his condition, complain of it as little as possible, and grasp whatever good lies within his reach. No situation is so harsh that a dispassionate mind cannot find some consolation in it. We must not covet what we cannot attain , or what, when we have attained it, will make us realize too late and shamefacedly the vanity of our desires. Labor should not be in vain that it produces no result 10 Seneca Stoic Philosophy 20XX

11. We must cut down on gadding about . Many people lead an antlike existence: restless indolence would not be a bad name for it. Train your soul against poverty , and you may stay rich. Arm yourself to scorn pain. Teach yourself to bear the loss of loved ones bravely. This training must one day be used . 11 Seneca Stoic Philosophy 20XX Only what is perfect in accordance with nature is truly perfect and nature is rational. A being not capable of a happy life is not capable of the efficient cause of a happy life, which is good

12. Pronounce yourself happy only when all satisfactions are begotten of reason, and when, having surveyed what men struggle for, pray for, and watch over, you find nothing to desire let alone prefer. You will come into possession when you understand that the “successful” is the least successful. 12 Seneca Stoic Philosophy 20XX Good can therefore exist only where reason exists.

13. The Meditations Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly give yourself to this retreat and renew yourself. What is that which can conduct a man? One thing and only one, philosophy . This consists in keeping the daemon within a man free from violence and unharmed, superior to pains & pleasures, doing nothing without a purpose nor yet falsely and with hypocrisy, not feeling the need of another man’s doing not doing anything 13 Marcus Aurelius 20XX

14. The Meditations It is right to be content with what happens to you : One, because it was done for you and prescribed for you, and in a manner had reference to you, originally from the most ancient causes spun with your destiny. Two, because even that which comes severally to every man is to the power which administers the universe a cause of felicity and perfection, nay even of its very continuance. 14 Marcus Aurelius 20XX

15. The Meditations … Reverence that which is best in the universe, and this is what makes us of all things and directs all things. What does not harm the state will do no harm to the citizen. Think of the universal substance, of which you have a very small portion, and of universal time of which a short & indivisible interval has been assigned to you. 15 Marcus Aurelius 20XX

16. The Meditations Consider the connection of all things in the universe & their relation to one another. All things are implicated in one another. And this bond is holy. There is hardly anything unconnected with any other thing. Adapt yourself to the things of which your lot has been cast and the men you have received your portion: love them sincerely. Whatever happens to every man, this is in the interest of the universal: this might be sufficient 16 Marcus Aurelius 20XX

17. The meditations Everything material soon disappears in the substance of the whole and everything formal(causal) is very soon taken back into the universal reason and the memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time. There is no dishonor in pain, nor does it make the governing intelligence worse for it does not damage the intelligence, if the intelligence is rational or social. 17 Marcus Aurelius 20XX

18. The meditations He who acts unjustly acts impiously. Observe what your nature requires, then do it and accept it, if you are not made worse by it. I am a part of the whole which is governed by nature. Then I am in a manner intimately related to the parts which are of the same kind as myself. Short is the little time which remains to you of life. Live as on a mountain. For it makes no difference whether a man lives there or here, he lives everywhere in the world as in a state. 18 Marcus Aurelius 20XX

19. Rome Cicero & Polybius

20. Characteristics of time & place 1. A small state continually beset with political & constitutional problems 2. Readily accepted the philosophy of Hellenists 3. Aristocratic republic that had not fully relinquished its tribal nature but now changing into a great empire 4. Dominated the world for 600 years 5. Not associated with profound or sophisticated political thought but produced political writers & ideas that have lasting significance 20 Presentation Title 20XX

21. Works during this period Polybius- Universal History Cicero-On the Commonwealth 21 Presentation Title 20XX