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Chapter 8 - Anatomies of Joy

Seneca and the Gaudium Tradition

from Part III - Models of Emotional Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2023

Margaret Graver
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
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Summary

The chapter studies the several accounts of the wise person’s joy that are found in Seneca’s works, arguing that these can give insight into his working methods as a philosopher. Seneca is clearly invested in the idea that the fulfillment of one’s rational nature would result in a life filled with joy, the virtuous counterpart to the problematic pleasure or delight of ordinary agents. Yet his explanations of how wise joy relates to objects of value are interestingly dissimilar, reflecting different views of the phenomenology of joy, the nature of its objects, and its dependence on social interactions. Graver argues that these discrepancies reflect a tendency to preserve ideas found in his various reading materials without attempting to impose a system, and, further, that the Stoic tradition itself must have had room for divergences of view concerning some specifics of moral psychology, as long as core principles were maintained.

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Chapter
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Seneca
The Literary Philosopher
, pp. 176 - 192
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Anatomies of Joy
  • Margaret Graver, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Seneca
  • Online publication: 23 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316683125.013
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  • Anatomies of Joy
  • Margaret Graver, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Seneca
  • Online publication: 23 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316683125.013
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Anatomies of Joy
  • Margaret Graver, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Seneca
  • Online publication: 23 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316683125.013
Available formats
×