God and Cosmos in Stoicism

285 Pages·2009·1.85 MB·English

by  Salles, Ricardo.

GOD AND COSMOS IN STOICISM
This page intentionally left blank
God and Cosmos in Stoicism
Editedby
RICARDO SALLES
1
1
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship,
andeducationbypublishingworldwidein
Oxford NewYork
Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi
KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi
NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
Withofficesin
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress
intheUKandincertainothercountries
PublishedintheUnitedStates
byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork
©theseveralcontributors2009
Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted
DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker)
Firstpublished2009
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,
withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,
orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate
reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction
outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,
OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove
Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover
andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Dataavailable
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
GodandtheCosmoninStoicism/[editedby]RicardoSalles.
p.cm.
Includesindexes.
ISBN978–0–19–955614–4(hardback:alk.paper)1.Stoics.
2.Cosmology.3.Theology.I.Salles,Ricardo.
B528.G592009
188–dc22 2009022963
TypesetbyLaserwordsPrivateLimited,Chennai,India
PrintedinGreatBritain
onacid-freepaperby
MPGBooksGroup,King’sLynn,Norfolk
ISBN978–0–19–955614–4
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Acknowledgements
Theprojectbehindthepresentvolumebeganattheconference‘DiosyelCosmos
en la Filosofía Estoica’ held at the National Autonomous University of Mexico
(UNAM) on 3–5 July 2006. Earlier versions of Chapters 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9
were delivered at it. Given the large number of previously unexplored issues
they addressed, it became clear that the interconnection between theology and
cosmologyinStoicthoughtdeservedintensivestudythroughavolumedevoted
toit.Thus,thepapers presentedat theconferencewerethoroughlyrevised and
Chapters 2, 3, and 7 were specially commissioned in order to provide a fuller
treatment of special topics. Although each of the nine papers is self-contained,
theyallcomplementeachotherinthattheywereputtogetherwiththepurpose
of leaving no major gaps in the three fields covered by the volume. Often
cross-references between them indicate how exactly they agree on particular
issues,andalsobringoutmajordifferencesintheinterpretationoftheevidence.
The editorial Introduction seeks to bring out the unity of the subject in Stoic
philosophyandofthevolumeasawhole.
At the conference, most of the discussion centred on highly technical issues
andIamgratefultotherespondentsofthepapers—JuanPabloBermúdez,Laura
Gómez, Enrique Hulsz, Luis Xavier López Farjeat, Andrea Lozano, Alejandro
Tellkamp, and Héctor Zagal—for their help. I am also indebted to Thomas
Bénatouïl, Marcelo Boeri, Brad Inwood, Andrea Lozano, Susan Meyer, and
Teresa Rodríguez for their advice on the subsequent editorial work and their
comments on the Introduction. The two anonymous readers appointed by
Oxford University Press also provided encouraging and useful comments on
the volume as a whole and on each of the individual papers, including the
Introduction.TheassistanceandhelpreceivedfromPeterMomtchiloff,Victoria
Patton, Tessa Eaton, and Catherine Berry at Oxford has also been extremely
valuable.
TheprojectreceivedconstantfinancialsupportfromtheUNAMandMexico’s
National Science and Technology Council (CONACYT) through the projects
IN401408and40891-HandthroughtheInstitutodeInvestigacionesFilosóficas
at UNAM. An earlier version of Chapter 2 was published in French as: Jean-
Baptiste Gourinat, ‘La Théorie stoïcienne de la matière: Entre le matérialisme
etunerelecturecorporalisteduTimée’,inCristinaViano(ed.),L’Alchimieetses
racines philosophiques (Paris: Vrin, 2005). I wish to thank Cristina Viano and
theLibrairiePhilosophiqueJ.Vrin(http://www.vrin.fr/)fortheirpermissionto
publishinthisvolumethepresentversionofthechapter.
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
ListofContributors ix
Introduction:GodandCosmosinStoicism 1
RicardoSalles
I. GOD, PROVIDENCE, AND FATE
1. HowIndustriouscanZeusbe?TheExtentandObjectsofDivine
ActivityinStoicism 23
ThomasBénatouïl
2. TheStoicsonMatterandPrimeMatter:‘Corporealism’andthe
ImprintofPlato’sTimaeus 46
Jean-BaptisteGourinat
3. ChainofCauses:WhatisStoicFate? 71
SusanSauvéMeyer
II. ELEMENTS, COSMOGONY, AND CONFLAGRATION
4. ChrysippusonPhysicalElements 93
JohnM.Cooper
5. ChrysippusonConflagrationandtheIndestructibilityoftheCosmos 118
RicardoSalles
6. StoicThemesinPeripateticSources? 135
InnaKupreeva
III. THE ETHICS AND RELIGION OF STOIC
COSMO-THEOLOGY
7. DoesCosmicNatureMatter?SomeRemarksontheCosmological
AspectsofStoicEthics 173
MarceloD.Boeri
8. WhyPhysics? 201
BradInwood
viii Contents
9. StoicPhilosophicalTheologyandGraeco-RomanReligion 224
KeimpeAlgra
IndexNominum 253
IndexLocorum 261
List of Contributors
Keimpe Algra is Professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophyat the Department of
PhilosophyoftheUniversityofUtrecht,theNetherlands
ThomasBénatouïl isMaîtredeConférencesatthe Department ofPhilosophyofthe
Université de Nancy, France and is a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de
France
Marcelo Boeri is Professor at the Instituto de Filosofía of the Universidad de los
Andes,Chile
John Cooper is Stuart Professor of Philosophy at the Philosophy Department of
PrincetonUniversity,UnitedStates
Jean-Baptiste Gourinat is Researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scien-
tifiqueParis,France
BradInwoodisUniversityProfessorattheUniversityofToronto,Canada
Inna Kupreeva is Lecturer in Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy of the
UniversityofEdinburgh,Scotland
SusanSauvéMeyerisattheDepartmentofPhilosophyoftheUniversityofPennsylvania,
UnitedStates
Ricardo Salles is Researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas of the
UniversidadNacionalAutónomadeMéxico