Indeed, why?
Brad Inwood will look for an answer, from Stoic points of view:Wednesday, April 26, at 5:30. Brad Inwood, University of Toronto
This lecture, jointly sponsored by the Classics and Philosophy faculties at Brown, is in place of a previously scheduled lecture by Pierre-Marie Morel in BACAP, which, regretfully, has had to be postponed until Fall 2006.
Gerard House 119, Brown University
"Why Physics? Stoic views on the contributions of natural science to human happiness".
Abstract:
'Why Physics?' is a consideration of why a Stoic would want to pursue a
study of nature, especially in view of their origins as a Socratic
school and of Socrates' attitude to physics; I also take into account
the views of an early Stoic, Ariston of Chios, who claimed that both
physics and logic are unnecessary for human happiness. I argue that
there is no uniform Stoic answer to the question and that the question
is itself a philosophically interesting one. I then show how Seneca
answers the question, why and to what extent he holds that the study of
physics is indispensable for human happiness.
23 January 2006
Why Physics?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
What do I care, said Epictetus, whether everything is composed of atoms or indivisibles or fire and earth? Is it not enough to learn the true nature of good and evil, and the limits of our desires and aversions, and of our impulses to act and refrain, and, by using these as rules, to order the affairs of our life and dismiss the things that are beyond us?
[Fragment 1, Stob. Ecl. II. 1.31 ]
Post a Comment