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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
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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

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  • 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
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  • 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
×