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A groundbreaking and wide-ranging presentation of Plutarch's ethics based on the cosmological foundation of his ethical thought
Plutarch of Chaeronea (c. 45-120 CE) is the most prolific and influential moral philosopher in the Platonic tradition. This book is a fundamental reappraisal of Plutarch's ethical thought. It shows how Plutarch based his ethics on his particular interpretation of Plato's cosmology: our quest for the good life should start by considering the good cosmos in which we live. The practical consequences of this cosmological foundation permeate various domains of Greco-Roman life: the musician, the organiser of a drinking party, and the politician should all be guided by cosmology. After exploring these domains, this book offers in-depth interpretations of two works which can only be fully understood by paying attention to cosmological aspects: Dialogue on Love and On Tranquillity of Mind.
Free ebook available at OAPEN Library, JSTOR, Project Muse, and Open Research Library
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations, titles, editions
Introduction
Chapter 1 Reading Plato
1. In search of irrational soul
2. Chaos and providence: flexible consistency and the Timaeus 2.1. Macro level: selection, arrangement, and function
2.2. Micro level: Plutarch's interpretation of Timaeus 53b
3. Moralising the cosmic soul: Plato's 'development' and Laws 10
3.1. Invisible soul and soul as self-moved motion
3.2. Priority of soul
3.3. Maleficent soul
3.4. Consistency and 'development'
4. Cosmic cycles: literalness and the Statesman myth
4.1. Proclus on combining Timaeus and Statesman: introducing the problem
4.2. On the Generation of the Soul: facing the problem
4.3. Who or what is the cause for cosmic reversal?
4.4. In what period are we now?
4.5. What is Plutarch doing?
5. Concluding remarks
Chapter 2 Music
1. The demiurge and the musician
2. Music in heaven? The song of the Muses
3. Divine harmony on earth? The limits of inspiration
4. Concluding remarks
Chapter 3 Symposium
1. God and the symposiarch: Sympotic Questions 1.2 and 7.6
2. The cosmos and the symposium: Sympotic Questions 7.4 and 2.10
3. The χώρα and the venue: Sympotic Questions 5.5
4. Concluding remarks
Chapter 4 Politics
1. The Timaeus in the Phocion 2. The ruler and the demiurge in the historical works
3. The ruler and the sun: To an Uneducated Ruler 4. Concluding remarks
Chapter 5 On Tranquillity of Mind 1. Κρίσις (§ 1-5): how to deal with τύχη?
1.1. What is the problem?
1.2. How is the problem presented?
2. A shift in the ἄσκησις (§ 14-15): from internal to external synthesis
2.1. Beginning the ἄσκησις (§ 6-13): internal synthesis
2.2. Time and the self: memory (§ 14)
2.3. Becoming and the self: dualism (§ 15)
2.4. Looking back (§ 8) and continuing the ἄσκησις (§ 16-18): external synthesis
2.5. Interlude: time and becoming in Consolation to My Wife 3. 'The cosmos is a temple' (§ 19-20)
3.1. Intertextuality
3.2. Imagery
3.3. Contrasting images and intertexts? On Exile and Plutarch's 'cosmopolitanism'
3.4. Similar images and intertexts? Θεωρία and Second Sophistic cosmic festivals
4. Concluding remarks
Chapter 6 Dialogue on Love 1. The Platonist and the body
2. Eros and Aphrodite as cosmic gods (755e-757a)
2.1. A doxography of cosmic love
2.2. Euripides' Hippolytus: a threat to the erotic cosmos
3. Eros, the sun, and the cave: rewriting Plato's Republic (764a-766b)
4. Interlude: reflecting the intelligible
5. Cosmic and human love (770a-b)
6. Concluding remarks
Concluding remarks
Bibliography
Index locorum
General index
