Cicero, Greek Philosophy, and the Fall of the Roman Republic - Philosophers in the Midst of History

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In this ninth installment of our quarterly series, Philosophers in the Midst of History, I discuss the life, thought, and importance of Marcus Tullius Cicero in his historical context. Cicero left behind a lasting legacy of Latin writings, including treatises, dialogues, letters, and speeches.

In this lecture, we discuss the times and the political conflicts within the Roman Empire that Cicero was born into and then took up his own position within. The Roman Republic - of which Cicero was a principled defender - was in crisis nearly all of his life, and he lived long enough to see it succumb to dictatorship under Julius Caesar. We also discuss Cicero's conflicts, connections, and alliances with other major figures of Roman history, including Pompey, Cato, Crassus, Clodius, Marcus Antony, and Octavian.

Although he officially identified with the skeptical Academic school, Cicero was actually an eclectic philosopher who draws upon Stoic, Aristotelian, and Platonic philosophy, and who is a critic of Epicurean philosophy. In many of his works, we see these schools brought into serious dialogue with each other. In some cases, it is through Cicero that we learn important doctrines of these philosophical traditions. In his works, we see Cicero attempting to bring Greek philosophy into a Roman and Latin context, and to provide an encyclopedic overview of the philosophies of his time and the three preceding centuries.

Other talks in the series focused upon Plato, Aristotle, Boethius, Anselm of Canterbury, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Hannah Arendt. You can watch all the talks in this ongoing series here:    • Philosophers in the Midst of History | A Q...  

The series has been renewed for another year, and we will discuss Cicero for the ancient period, Augustine of Hippo for the medieval period, John Locke for the early modern period, and Albert Camus for the late modern period.

For the longer playlist containing over 70 of my recent talks, click here:    • Presentations and Invited Lectures  

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