Reading Questions
W 6 Oct
Cicero, On Duties, I, II.9-29, III (pp. 1-62, 66-74, 101-47)
1) Cicero and the Schools
What is Cicero's position with respect to the various philosophical
schools (Stoics, Platonists, Skeptics, Epicureans,
Aristoteleans/Peripatetics, Cynics, etc.)? What does he draw from the
various schools? What does he reject explicitly? Does he misinterpret
any of their doctrines, as you understand them?
2) The Argument
What is the program/outline of the book? What is the relationship
between nature, virtue, and duty? What are the virtues? What behavior
flows from them? How are we to decide between competing virtues?
Between what is honorable and what is virtuous (or is that really the
question?)?
3) Etc.
What relationship does Cicero propose between the individual and the
community? Between participation in politics (civic life) and
philosophy? Is he proposing an act-centered, or an agent-centered moral
philosophy?
4) Regulus
Consider carefully the case of Regulus (III.104-115). Why does Cicero
admire him? Do you admire him?