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Philosophical Life in Cicero's Letters

Sean McConnell author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:3rd Apr '14

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Philosophical Life in Cicero's Letters cover

A fresh and exciting study of Cicero's philosophical activities and the enduring interest of his ethical and political thought.

This first book in English dedicated to philosophy in Cicero's letters addresses classicists, philosophers, political theorists, and historians. Cicero's political and philosophical activities are reassessed, with special attention given to the civil war and Caesar. A new picture emerges of Cicero the philosopher and philosophy's place in Roman political culture.Cicero's letters are saturated with learned philosophical allusions and arguments. This innovative study shows just how fundamental these are for understanding Cicero's philosophical activities and for explaining the enduring interest of his ethical and political thought. Dr McConnell draws particular attention to Cicero's treatment of Plato's Seventh Letter and his views on the relationship between philosophy and politics. He also illustrates the various ways in which Cicero finds philosophy an appealing and effective mode of self-presentation and a congenial, pointed medium for talking to his peers about ethical and political concerns. The book offers a range of fresh insights into the impressive scope and sophistication of Cicero's epistolary and philosophical practice and the vibrancy of the philosophical environment of the first century BC. A new picture emerges of Cicero the philosopher and philosophy's place in Roman political culture.

'The author has done a great service in pushing far beyond the conclusions, now well-established, that Cicero could 'do' philosophy or fit it to a Roman audience. What the letters reveal - even more than the treatises, perhaps - was that Cicero was not merely putting favored doctrines into practice, but experimenting constantly with how ideas and political realities could reshape one another. A truly gifted intertextualist, McConnell shines brightest in his attention to the manifold ways in which Cicero engages his intellectual forebears.' Lex Paulson, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

ISBN: 9781107040816

Dimensions: 221mm x 142mm x 19mm

Weight: 440g

268 pages