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PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHYTHE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHY IN PRACTICEwww.practical-philosophy.org.uk www.society-for-philosophy-in-practice.org |
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PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHYTHE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHY IN PRACTICEwww.practical-philosophy.org.uk www.society-for-philosophy-in-practice.org |
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On Moral Ends (ed. Julia Annas)
Cicero
2001 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
pp. xxxix + 158 ISBN 0521660610 (hb) £25/$37.95, ISBN 0521669014
(pb) £9.95/$13.95
Practical Philosophy (Book Reviews) Autumn 2002 Volume 4.2
Reviewed by: Trevor Curnow
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) is not a very endearing character. A man of immense vanity, even his admirers find it difficult to actually admire him. Yet he occupies an important place in the history of philosophy. While he was not a thinker of great originality, neither was he wholly lacking in it. More significantly, however, he can lay claim to being the founding father of Roman, or Latin, philosophy. Both before and after Cicero, educated Romans tended to regard Greek as the medium of serious thought. He, however, chose to write his works in Latin, taking great care to develop a terminology that best translated key words from the Greek philosophical vocabulary. But he was not just a translator, for he also introduced a distinctively Roman element into his writings, and this is most noticeable when his themes are moral ones. The Romans took great pride in their own values, which they felt to be superior to those of others. Frequent reference is made to them in his De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, translated here (by Raphael Woolf) as On Moral Ends.
The central question of the book is; ‘What is the end, what is the ultimate and final goal, to which all our deliberations on living well and acting rightly should be directed?’ (p. 7). The work is set out as a series of discussions between Cicero and a variety of interlocutors who defend the theories of Epicurus, the Stoics and the Academy. Cicero himself takes a generally sceptical line, although his sympathies clearly lie most strongly with the Academics. The Epicureans in particular are savaged (although not entirely fairly) and the Stoics are routinely accused of being obsessed with their own confusing terminology. However, as the helpful introduction and notes by Julia Annas point out, the Academic position put forward here is historically a somewhat eccentric one, owing much to Antiochus of Ascalon who regarded Plato and Aristotle as part of a single tradition. Indeed, to a modern reader the supposedly Academic position comes across as owing little to Plato but a great deal to the Nicomachaean Ethics.
With that proviso, On Moral Ends is an engaging and instructive work. First, it presents a fascinating glimpse of moral philosophy at one particular stage in its development. More significantly, however, the dialogue format, while obviously stylised, helps to convey a genuine and dramatic sense of the nature of ancient ethical debate. Points of contention and points of agreement are both revealed in an illuminating way. While the specific differences between the competing philosophies are highlighted, which is the principal aim of the work, a more fundamental way of looking at things is also articulated throughout.
While there are flashes of Cicero’s pomposity in the text, he is relatively restrained. It was written only two years before his death at a time when he had been sidelined from public affairs and during a period of considerable personal unhappiness. And some allowances have to be made for someone who rejoices in the name of ‘Chickpea’.
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