Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Cicero’s Philosophy
- Series page
- The Cambridge Companion to Cicero’s Philosophy
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Cicero’s Philosophical Works
- A Note on Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Cicero’s Philosophical Writing in Its Intellectual Context
- Chapter 2 The Ciceronian Dialogue
- Chapter 3 Philosophy in Cicero’s Letters
- Chapter 4 Philosophy in Cicero’s Speeches
- Chapter 5 Cicero and the Creation of a Latin Philosophical Vocabulary
- Chapter 6 Cicero and Plato
- Chapter 7 Cicero’s Academic Skepticism
- Chapter 8 Cosmology, Theology, and Religion
- Chapter 9 Determinism, Fate, and Responsibility
- Chapter 10 Cicero on the Emotions and the Soul
- Chapter 11 Ethical Theory and the Good Life
- Chapter 12 Nature and Social Ethics
- Chapter 13 Philosophy, Rhetoric, and Politics
- Chapter 14 Cicero’s Republicanism
- Chapter 15 Empire, Just Wars, and Cosmopolitanism
- Chapter 16 Cicero and Augustine
- Chapter 17 Cicero and Eighteenth-Century Political Thought
- Chapter 18 Cicero and Twenty-First-Century Political Philosophy
- Bibliography
- Index of Cicero’s Texts
- General Index
- Series page
Chapter 2 - The Ciceronian Dialogue
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 December 2021
- The Cambridge Companion to Cicero’s Philosophy
- Series page
- The Cambridge Companion to Cicero’s Philosophy
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Cicero’s Philosophical Works
- A Note on Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Cicero’s Philosophical Writing in Its Intellectual Context
- Chapter 2 The Ciceronian Dialogue
- Chapter 3 Philosophy in Cicero’s Letters
- Chapter 4 Philosophy in Cicero’s Speeches
- Chapter 5 Cicero and the Creation of a Latin Philosophical Vocabulary
- Chapter 6 Cicero and Plato
- Chapter 7 Cicero’s Academic Skepticism
- Chapter 8 Cosmology, Theology, and Religion
- Chapter 9 Determinism, Fate, and Responsibility
- Chapter 10 Cicero on the Emotions and the Soul
- Chapter 11 Ethical Theory and the Good Life
- Chapter 12 Nature and Social Ethics
- Chapter 13 Philosophy, Rhetoric, and Politics
- Chapter 14 Cicero’s Republicanism
- Chapter 15 Empire, Just Wars, and Cosmopolitanism
- Chapter 16 Cicero and Augustine
- Chapter 17 Cicero and Eighteenth-Century Political Thought
- Chapter 18 Cicero and Twenty-First-Century Political Philosophy
- Bibliography
- Index of Cicero’s Texts
- General Index
- Series page
Summary
The prefaces of Cicero’s late dialogues indicate that they share a pedagogic function with the philosophical practices of the Hellenistic Academy. In the first part of this chapter, we give a few examples showing how the late dialogues serve this end, and use them to argue that Cicero’s texts systematically enact, as well as represent, an Academic pedagogical methodology. In the second part of the chapter, we use these results to propose that Cicero’s earlier, “Platonic,” dialogues are equally sophisticated in the modes through which they effect Academic aims concerning philosophical education. As starting points for further inquiry, we indicate a few of the devices the early dialogues employ to prompt the reader to reflect on her job as a philosophical critic.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Cicero's Philosophy , pp. 25 - 42Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021