Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:21:43.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 2 - Action and Emotion

Seneca and the Stoic Tradition

from Part I - Recreating the Stoic Past

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2023

Margaret Graver
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
Get access

Summary

The chapter reviews the essentials of Seneca’s positions in moral psychology as compared to those of earlier Stoics whose works he might have studied. On the material nature of the mind (or soul); on the mechanisms of thought, belief, and action; and on the nature and management of the emotions, Seneca’s views are consonant with those of his Stoic predecessors; however, his knowledge of the system is not necessarily complete, and his emphases are sometimes different. Thus, he shows some awareness of earlier discussions of phantasia (impressions) but does not explore the topic deeply; on the other hand, he gives assent and impulse the same kind of significance in ethics as Chrysippus had. Contrary to some earlier studies, this chapter does not find Seneca to be innovative as concerns volition (voluntas) or the will. Likewise, his analysis of the emotions and of involuntary emotional response finds parallel in earlier texts. For the good emotions (eupatheiai) of the Stoic sage, he seems to know only that part of the analysis that concerns joy, to which he assigns an important role in his own ethics.

Type
Chapter
Information
Seneca
The Literary Philosopher
, pp. 40 - 56
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Action and Emotion
  • Margaret Graver, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Seneca
  • Online publication: 23 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316683125.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

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 Dropbox.

  • Action and Emotion
  • Margaret Graver, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Seneca
  • Online publication: 23 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316683125.005
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.

  • Action and Emotion
  • Margaret Graver, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Seneca
  • Online publication: 23 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316683125.005
Available formats
×