Stoicism: Traditions and Transformations

Stoicism is now widely recognized as one of the most important philosophical schools of ancient Greece and Rome. But how did it influence Western thought after Greek and Roman antiquity? The question is a difficult one to answer because the most important Stoic texts have been lost since the end of the classical period, though not before early Christian thinkers had borrowed their ideas and applied them to discussions ranging from dialectic to moral theology. Later philosophers became familiar with Stoic teachings only indirectly, often without knowing that an idea came from the Stoics. The contributors recruited for this volume include some of the leading international scholars of Stoicism as well as experts in later periods of philosophy. They trace the impact of Stoicism and Stoic ideas from late antiquity through the medieval and modern periods.

• Part of new wave of research into the importance of Stoicism reflected in recent Cambridge publications such as the Cambridge Companion to the Stoics and Hellenistic & Early Modern Philosophy • Strong appeal in both philosophy and classics • Distinguished roster of contributors

Introduction Steven K. Strange and Jack Zupko; 1. The socratic imprint of Epictetus’ philosophy A. A. Long; 2. The stoics on the voluntariness of the passions Steven K. Strange; 3. Stoicism and the Apostle Paul: a philosophical reading Troels Engberg-Pedersen; 4. Moral judgment in Seneca Brad Inwood; 5. Stoic first movements in Christianity Richard Sorabji; 6. Where were the stoics in the Middle Ages? Sten Ebbesen; 7. Abelard’s stoicism and its consequences Calvin Normore; 8. Constance and coherence Jacqueline Lagrée; 9. On the happy life: Descartes vis-à-vis Seneca Donald Rutherford; 10. Psychotherapy and moral perfection: Spinoza and the stoics on the prospect of happiness Firmin DeBrabander; 11. Duties of justice, duties of material aid: Cicero’s problematic legacy Martha Nussbaum; 12. Stoic emotion Lawrence Becker.