Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Essential Thinkers #7 Cicero, A Mixture of Scepticism and Stoicism


For much of his life Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43BC) was known as a Roman politician, lawyer and orator, who despite his humble origins, rose to pre-eminence among the conservative Roman aristocracy. As a youth he had travelled and studied in Greece and maintained a firm interest in philosophy throughout his public life. He maintained friendships with philosophers from all the leading schools but it was not until his retirement, finding himself in the political wilderness, that he devoted his final years to translating large parts of the Greek corpus into Latin. Much of our knowledge of Greek thought is due to Cicero’s translations and he remains a primary source for students of Hellenistic philosophy.

Of Cicero’s many works the most important include his Acedemica, on the impossibility of certain knowledge, the De Finibus and De Officiis, in which he discusses the ends of human action and the rules of right conduct, the Tusculan Disputations, concerning the problems of happiness, pain, the human emotions and death, and On the Nature of Gods and On Divination, both concerned with theological matters.

Mostly produced in the last two years of his life, Cicero’s philosophy comprises a mixture of scepticism in the theory of knowledge and stoicism in ethics. He was largely critical of all things Epicurean. Although he maintained a claim to some originality in his thought, Cicero’s dialogues are principally a ‘pick and mix’ of the three leading Greek philosophical schools. This was neither by accident, nor disguised. Cicero felt that the more modern Latin language could resolve and clarify the problems of Greek philosophy, as well as make it more appealing to a modern audience.

In this aim Cicero is largely judged to have been successful. The philosophical vocabulary invented by him is responsible for Latin becoming the primary philosophical language over Greek: despite the invention of modern languages, Latin remained the primary language of philosophy right up until the Renaissance. Even Descartes’ hugely influential Meditations of First Philosophy, published in 1641, was written first in Latin and only later translated into French. Its most famous conclusion ‘Cogito ergo sum’ (popularly translated as “I think, therefore I am”) is still today referred to in philosophical schools by its Latin name, “the Cogito.”

Although philosophy no longer uses Latin as its first language, many of Cicero’s philosophical terms are still in common employment today. Latin phrases such as a priori (meaning “prior to experience”), a fortiori (even more so), reductio ad absurdum (reduction to absurdity), ceteris paribus (a caveat meaning “other things being equal”), are not just in common philosophical usage but also, in some cases, set the agenda for the philosophical debate. For example, the great debate between empiricists and rationalists is primarily a debate over whether there can be such a thing as a priori knowledge – as the rationalists maintain – or whether all knowledge is a posteriori, in other words, derived from experience. In both logic and philosophical logic, Latin terms remain in current and widespread use.
[Summarized from Philosophy 100 Essential Thinkers by Philip Stokes, 2012.
Also listen to Forgotten Thinkers: Cicero https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rswj2AvC1Xk ]

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)


No comments:

Post a Comment

Top 10 Most Read Idea(s) Last 7 Days

Idea-Labels

Thinking Creative Question Action Change Your Life Essential Thinker Series Focus Positive Secrets of the Millionaire Mind Harv Eker Success Attitude Choice Learning Nurture Creativity Play Mindset Perspective Time Experience Habit Observation Curious Different Failure Hardworking How-to Generate Ideas Imagination Problem-Solving Wealth 12 Rules for Life Children Inspiration Jordan Peterson Relax Rich Break the Rules Change Perseverance Reading Risk-Taker Seeing Albert Einstein Barriers to Creativity Confidence I Wonder Series People The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck (Mark Hanson) Connection Happiness Money Possibilities The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Thought With Winning In Mind Asking Books Character Characteristics of Creative Person Is Technology Changing Our Brains Knowledge Practical Process Writing Believe Challenge Childlike Criticism How to Choose Optimism How to Nurture Your Child to Be Creative Innovative Listening Purpose Relationship Responsibility Story of Idea Thomas Edison Value 7 Climate Facts You Need to Know Communicate Control Enjoy Freedom Fun Idea-Quote Meaning Mistakes Open Mind Opportunity Optimistic Original Resourceful Roger von Oech Talent As A Man Thinketh Combination Commitment Discovery Don't Give Up Dream Energetic Environment Friendship Genius Give Up Growth Leonardo da Vinci Picture Playground Quiet Space Random Reason Start With Why (Simon Sinek) Steve Jobs Understand Walk Wisdom Yew Kam Keong Ability Ambiguity Behavior Crazy Daydreaming Decision-Making Example Facts about Creativity Faith Fear Feeling Goal Hearing Humour Improvement Independence Intuition Isaac Newton Lead Love Motivated Nature Non-Conformist Passion Potential Respect Savor Life Self-Image Stephen R. Covey The Power of Habit Word Alternative Application Awareness Common Blocks to Creativity Conversation Discipline Dynamic Emotion Encouragement Expectation Feedback Flexibility Idealistic Jack Foster Leader Logic Mindful Music Negative Performance Persistence Physical Reinforcement Result Right Answer Sixth Sense Society Talking The Human Body Tony Buzan Vincent Ryan Ruggiero Vision Adventurous Appreciate Attention Be Yourself Beautiful Christopher Columbus Conscious Daring Desire Edward de Bono Empathy Excuses Exercise Financial Galileo Goodness Hardship Help Henry Ford How to Be Innovative Humble IQ Jesus Kindness Laugh Let's Get Started! Memory Mental Rehearsal Michael J. Gelb Multitasking Nicolaus Copernicus Patient Pen and Paper Planning Power Praise Prejudice Proactive Progressive Quality Reality Recording Rejection Routine Sharing Simplicity Sleep Social Media Stand Firm Starbuck Stimulate Strength Stress Studying The Internet Theology Think like A Fool Touching Unpopular Usefulness Victor Hugo What If Win-Win Zig Ziglar 6 Common Creative Killers 9 Types of Intelligence A. Samad Said Affirmation Alexander the Great Aristotle Association Assumption Austin Kleon Balance Benedict de Spinoza Benjamin Franklin Bette Nesmith Graham Bill Gates Blessing Brainstorming Business Carpe Diem Chaos and Order Cicero Colonel Sanders Compliance Concentration Contribute Copernicus David Hume Descartes Desiderius Erasmus Development Diversity Don't Try Download Drug Elaboration Eleanor Roosevelt Enthusiasm Error Ethics Eurika Experiment Explore Extrovert Fluency Francis Bacon Free Book Generalist Giving Back Heroes Hopeful Hormones How to Spark Your Creative Mind How-to Maximizing a New Idea Howard Schultz Hunting Illustration Information Integrity Intention Interruption Introvert Investment James Webb Young Jason Mraz Jean-Jacques Rouseau Jim Carrey Jogging John Locke Jurgen Wolff Juxtapositions Legacy Leon Ann Mean Leon Trotsky Light Liquid Paper Machiavelli Management Manifestation Manipulation Marcus Aurelius Mark Zurkerberg Martin Luther Marty Neumeier Maturity Mental Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Mind Maping Miracles Mission Statement Modeling Money Blueprint Mood Move On My Top 17 Book on Innovative and Creativity Lists Navigation Skills Niccolo Machiavelli Offline Ontology Ordinary Pablo Picasso Pain Paracelsus Paradigm Paradox of Creative People Parenting Passive Income Peace Perception Philosophy Plato Political Practice Priority Privacy Procrastination Productivity Promote Pythagoras of Samos Rational Rebellious Receiving Reformer Rene Descartes Resilience Resource Myopia Rest Reverse Robert Korn Running Safe Saving Say No Scientific Method Scott Belsky Self-Gratification Selling Seneca Skeptic Slow Down Smelling Social Skills Socrates of Athens Soichiro Honda Specialist Spider-Man St Anselm St Augustine of Hippo St Thomas Aquinas Steal like An Artist Stubborn Suffering Synergize Tasting Technology Thales of Miletus The Creative Environment The Empiricist The Mozart Effect Thomas More Tok Nan Toy Tradition Truth Uniformity Unique Universe Unorthodox Volunteer Walt Disney Wildlife Wonder Xenophanes of Colophon