Greco Roman Religious World

Phronesis, 2014

The new Hellenistic philosophies that emerged in Athens at the end of the 4 th century BC-mainly Stoicism and Epicureanism-were largely non-original and second choice, compared to Plato and Aristotle. Unlike what happened with the works of Plato and Aristotle, the works of early Hellenistic era were lost on a large scale. However, they became the dominant philosophies of the next five centuries, and were extended from Greece to Rome and the distant provinces of the Roman Empire. A common element of the philosophers created in Hellenistic and Roman times is the connection of philosophy with individual life and its perception as an "art of life". Philosophy ends up being a driver of life and a source of relief, a healing art, a way to cope with a hostile world. From the 4 th century BC up to the first Christian centuries, Cynics, Stoics, Epicists and skeptical philosophers give a new role to philosophy.

2001

'Middle' Platonism is founded in an attempt to circumvent the skeptical argument from disagreement by establishing arguments for (and explanations of) the (likely) authority of Plato. These arguments develop earlier work in the allegorical interpretation of ancient theological traditions by the Stoics, and underpin the development of 'orthodoxy' as a normative category in Christian thought.

2013

Die philosophischen Traditionen der hellenistisch-romischen Zeit haben verschiedene gemeinsame Merkmale: die Betonung der Ethik; die Tendenz Lehren und ldeen aus verschiedenen Quellen auszuwahlen; der Fokus auf der moralischen Entwick-lung des lndividuums; psychagogische Prinzipien und Praktiken um spirituelle Reife zu fordern; schliesslich die Tendenz philosophische ldeen popular zu machen. Drei Texte - die Goldenen Verse des Pythagoras, der Zeushymnus des Kleanthes sowie De Mundo von Pseudo-Aristoteles - illustrieren diese den verschiedenen Traditionen gemeinsamen Charakteristika.

2007

List of abbreviations Notes on contributors Preface Jon Miller and Brad Inwood Introduction J. B. Schneewind 1. Stoicism in the philosophical tradition: Spinoza, Lipsius, Butler A. A. Long 2. Early modern uses of Hellenistic philosophy: Gassendi's epicurean project Margaret J. Osler 3. Locke's offices Phillip Mitsis 4. Patience sans Esperance: Leibniz's critique of stoicism Donald Rutherford 5. Epicureanism in early modern philosophy: Leibniz and his contemporaries Catherine Wilson 6. Stoics, Grotius and Spinoza on moral deliberation Jon Miller 7. The Discourse on the Method and the tradition of intellectual autobiography Stephen Menn 8. Subjectivity, ancient and modern: the Cyrenaics, Sextus and Descartes Gail Fine 9. Spinoza and Philo: the alleged mysticism in the Ethics Steven Nadler 10. Hume's scepticism and ancient scepticisms Donald C. Ainslie 11. Stoic naturalism in Butler Terence Irwin Bibliography of primary sources Bibliography of secondary sources Index (g...

De Gruyter, Trends in Classics, 2024

We owe to the late French historian of philosophy Pierre Hadot (1922-2010), the idea of "philosophy as a way of life". What he meant by this was that philosophy in Greco-Roman antiquity was not mere discourse, an intellectual pastime akin to solving a crossword puzzle; nor did it entail the construction of elaborate metaphysical systems and the writing of treatises setting forth such systems. Instead, it had to do… primarily with the way people lived their lives. In Hadot's words, the goal of the philosophical act is to "raise the individual from an inauthentic condition of life, darkened by unconsciousness and harassed by worry, to an authentic state of life, in which she attains self-awareness, an exact vision of the world, inner peace, and freedom." In those words, Michael Chase 1 , Pierre Hadot's devoted student and translator into English, encapsulates the endeavor undertaken by his master as explained in his emblematic book Spiritual Exercises, where he sets forth the change of perspective in ancient Greek philosophy from early Hellenistic times to late antiquity, using Socrates' example of a bios, "manière de vivre". A dedicated seminarian in his early career, Hadot decided to set aside the vestments of priesthood and to don the Spartan tunic of the Stoics when he married Ilsetraut, with whom he shared his vision of ancient philosophy as a way of life rather than as a theoretical discipline 2. He thus celebrated the tri in triumph of philosophical Stoicism as experienced in life by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius 3. According to Pierre Hadot, the Stoic Roman Emperor proved himself to be superhuman by putting into practice Stoic doctrine and in particular, the teaching of Epictetus, one of the most eminent Stoics despite his modest background (he was reportedly a slave before becoming a master of Stoicism). Hadot shows

2021

This paper is a study of the social, political, and religious conditions that influenced Epicurus to devise his philosophy. It explores how these conditions influenced several schools of philosophy to lean towards agnosticism and Epicureanism’s difference from them. It also examines Epicurus’ prescription of the method of life to attain eudaimonia and how it helped people in living their lives against the backdrop of the atmosphere of Hellenistic age. By a critical analysis of these issues, the paper concludes by assessing the impact of Epicureanism on the Hellenistic religious thought.