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 7 - Cicero’s Academic Skepticism
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 chapter traces statements on Cicero’s philosophical position from his earliest treatise (on rhetorical theory) to the philosophical works of the 40s bce, while attending to the literary form of Cicero’s oeuvre. It argues that Cicero’s stance is stable over time, that it exhibits a number of features that would warrant calling it mitigated skepticism, but that, given the way different Academic positions are conceptualized in Cicero’s texts, notably the Academica, his position is formally one of radical skepticism. The chapter tries to identify features of the evidence from Cicero which are distinctive compared to other texts (e.g. by Sextus Empiricus and Numenius), notably an unusual wealth of comments on the practice of Academic skepticism (i.e. on what being an Academic skeptic was like, at least on Cicero’s construal and to what extent it was compatible with being a fully functioning Roman of a certain social class and with a particular occupation).
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- The Cambridge Companion to Cicero's Philosophy , pp. 103 - 119Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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