Antiochus and peripatetic ethics

241 Pages·2019·1.07 MB·English

by  Tsouni

ANTIOCHUS AND PERIPATETIC ETHICS
ThisbookoffersafreshanalysisoftheaccountofPeripateticethicsinCicero’s
OnEnds5,whichgoesbacktothefirstcenturyBCEphilosopherAntiochusof
Ascalon. Georgia Tsouni challenges previous characterisations of Antiochus’
philosophicalprojectas‘eclectic’andshowshowhisreconstructionoftheethics
of the ‘Old Academy’ demonstrates a careful attempt to update the ancient
heritage, and predominantly the views of Aristotle and the Peripatos, in the
lightofcontemporaryStoicleddebates.Thisresultsinbothahermeneutically
complex and a philosophically exciting reading of the old tradition. A case in
pointisthewayAntiochusgroundsthe‘OldAcademic’conceptionofthehappy
life in natural appropriation (oikeiōsis), thus offering a naturalistic version of
Aristotelianethics.
georgiatsouniisapostdoctoralresearcherandlecturer(Assistentin)tothe
Chair of History of Philosophy at the University of Bern. She has published
extensivelyonAristotelian/PeripateticandStoicethicalandpoliticalphilosophy,
including a new edition and translation of Didymus’ Summary of Peripatetic
Ethics,whichsurvivesintheByzantineanthologyofStobaeus.
cambridge classical studies
Generaleditors
r. g. osborne, w. m. beard, g. betegh,
j. p. t. clackson, r. l. hunter, m. j. millett,
s. p. oakley, t. j. g. whitmarsh
ANTIOCHUS AND PERIPATETIC ETHICS
GEORGIATSOUNI
UniversityofBern,Switzerland
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title:Antiochusandperipateticethics/GeorgiaTsouni.
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bibliographicalreferencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2018039852|isbn9781108420587
subjects:lcsh:Antiochus,ofAscalon,approximately130B.C.69or68B.C.|
Peripatetics.|Philosophy,Ancient.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements pagevii
ListofAbbreviations x
Introduction 1
PartI: AntiochusinRomeandOldAcademicHistory
ofPhilosophy 17
1 AntiochusinRome 19
24
AntiochusinCicero
2 OldAcademicHistoryofPhilosophy 36
37
AntiochusandSocrates
AntiochusandPlato’sAcademy 43
52
AntiochusandthePeripatos
64
AntiochusandtheStoa
PartII: TheEthicsoftheOldAcademy 75
3 OikeiōsisandtheTelos 77
TheStoicArgumentfromOikeiōsis 80
TheDialecticalContextofOikeiōsisArguments 90
TheAntiocheanPeripateticArgumentfromOikeiōsis 94
4 Self-LoveintheAntiochean-Peripatetic Account 105
5 ‘CradleArguments’andtheObjectsofOikeiōsis 123
OikeiōsistowardstheBodilyVirtues 123
OikeiōsistowardstheSoul 130
6 OikeiōsistowardsTheoreticalVirtue 142
AnEchofromtheProtrepticus:ThePursuitofLearning
147
intheIslesoftheBlest
OikeiōsistowardsDifferentKindsofActio 150
7 SocialOikeiōsis 155
v
Contents
8 TheAntiocheanConceptionoftheHappyLife 167
167
TheBestFormofLife(Bios)
172
TheComponentsoftheTelos
9 AnimalsandPlantsintheAntiochean-Peripatetic
Account 183
OikeiōsisandAnimals 184
TheOikeiōsisofPlants 191
The‘VineHumanAnalogy’:NatureandTechnē 195
Epilogue 202
Bibliography 209
PrimaryTexts(EditionsandTranslations) 209
SecondaryLiterature 213
IndexLocorum 222
GeneralIndex 229
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ThisisasubstantiallyrevisedversionofmyPhDthesissubmitted
in May 2010 to the Faculty of Classics at the University of
Cambridge for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Although the
coreobjectiveofthethesisremainsintactinthisbook,namelythe
identification and appreciation of the Peripatetic dimension in
Antiochus’ teaching, my initial objective has been refined and
enlargedduringtheyearsofrevision;inparticularthebookargues
foramorenuancedthesisofthewayPlatonicandStoicelements
interact with Antiochus’ Peripateticism. Chapter One has been
added in order to place Antiochus’ activity in its larger historical
and cultural context but also in order to highlight Cicero’s con-
tributionasaVermittlerofAntiocheanphilosophy.Thechapteron
oikeiōsis towards theoretical virtue is partly based on a chapter
which appears in D. Sedley (ed.), The Philosophy of Antiochus
(Cambridge,2012).
DuringmystudiesinCambridge,Iwasfortunateenoughtobe
a PhD student at the Arts and Humanities Research Council-
funded project entitled ‘Greco-Roman Philosophy in the First
Century BC’ (2006–2009) under the direction of Professor
D.SedleyandProfessorM.Schofield.Iammostgratefultoboth
of them fortheir comments andsupport duringthis period. Ialso
wish to thank the post-doctoral investigators of the project,
Dr M. Hatzimichali and Dr R. Polito, for valuable advice and
comments. The volume The Philosophy of Antiochus (the only
one in English to have been entirely dedicated to Antiochus),
which emerged from a conference of the ‘FirstCentury BC’ pro-
ject,hasprovidedanimportantcontextforthedevelopmentofmy
ownviews.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council honoured me with
a fees-only award, whereas the Greek State Scholarships
Foundation covered the living costs during my doctoral studies
vii
Acknowledgements
in Cambridge. The Faculty of Classics and Newnham College,
Cambridge,havebothprovidedfinancialhelpforlivingandtravel
funds during these years. To all these bodies I am most grateful.
Special thanks are also due to the examiners of my PhD thesis,
Professor Malcolm Schofield and Professor Christopher Gill, for
theirdetailedcommentsonthePhDthesis.
The revision of the manuscript of this book started during
a post-doctoral research stay at the Central European University
and, subsequently, at the University of Bern, where I currently
hold the position of post-doctoral researcher and lecturer
(Assistentin) to the Chair of History of Philosophy. I wish to
thank all the individuals who contributed with their comments,
encouragement andsupportinthepastyearstothewriting ofthe
book, and especially Professor Gábor Betegh and Professor
Richard King. I owe many thanks also to Professor Bill
Fortenbaugh who offered constant valuable advice and guidance
during the period of preparation of the edition and translation of
Didymus’OutlineofPeripateticEthics(publishedintheRutgers
Series in Classical Humanities), which coincided with the pre-
parationofthisbook.Partsofthistranslationareusedinthisbook
to illuminate Antiochus’ views. I also wish to thank Katja Vogt
who provided valuable comments for a paper on Antiochean/
Peripatetic oikeiōsis which was presented at the Princeton
Classical Philosophy Colloquium in December 2014.
The comments of the two reviewers for Cambridge University
Press have significantly helped me to ameliorate the book and to
decideonitsfinalshape.Aboveall,IwishtothankmyCambridge
supervisorProfessorDavidSedleywithoutwhomthisbookwould
never have been written. I owe him gratitude for being a great
supervisor during my graduate studies and generous in so many
ways. I also owe him thanks for providing comments on all the
individualtopicsinthebookasalsoforreadingthefinaldraftand
providing suggestions for improvement until the very last stage.
Hisscholarlyexamplehasprovidedtheinspirationneededtobring
thetasktocompletion.Ofcourse,Itaketheresponsibilityforany
omissionsandmistakesthatremain.
viii
Acknowledgements
I dedicate this book to Anastasios Kalogirou. Many of our
discussions have centred around the value of self-love for happi-
ness,atopicdiscussedbyAntiochusaswell.
ix
ABBREVIATIONS
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt:
Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der
neueren Forschung. Ed. H. Temporini and
W.Haase.Berlin,1972–
DG Doxographi Graeci. Ed. Hermann Diels. Berlin,
1879
Dörrie Der Platonismus in der Antike, Begr. Von
H. Dörrie, fortgeführt von M. Baltes unter
MitarbeitvonF.MannBd.1–7.Stuttgart,1987
FHS&G Theophrastus of Eresus. Sources for His Life,
Writings, Thought and Influence. Ed. and trans.
W.W. Fortenbaugh, P.M. Huby, R.W. Sharples
andD.Gutas.2vols.Leiden,1992
LS A.A. Long and D.N. Sedley, The Hellenistic
Philosophers. Vol. 1: Translations of the
Principal Sources with Philosophical
Commentary. Volume 2: Greek and Latin Texts
withNotesandBibliography.Cambridge,1987
LSJ H.G. Liddell, R. Scott and H.S. Jones, A Greek-
English Lexicon with a Revised Supplement.
Oxford,1996
RUSCH Rutgers University Studies in Classical
Humanities
SVF Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta. Ed. J. von
Arnim, vols. 1–3, Stuttgart, 1903–05; vol. 4
(indexes)byM.Adler
Überweg Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie, 13th
edn, vol. 1–., Ed. H. Flashar et al. Basel and
Stuttgart,1983–
x