De fato

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De fato is a discussion by Marcus Tullius Cicero . After De natura deorum and De divinatione, it is the third and final part of his theological work. Under fatum Cicero understands well how he his brother Quintus in De Divinatione I placed in the mouth 125/126: 'With "fate" (fatum =) but I mean what the Greeks with the term Heimarmene capture, d. H. the sequence and concatenation of the causes, since one cause, linked to the other, allows an effect to emerge from itself. ... the eternal causal law of all things.

Origin and structure

The script was written in the second half of May 44 BC. Completed.

Cicero describes a visit by Aulus Hirtius to his estate in Puteoli as the outer framework of his remarks . After discussing the difficult situation in the state, Hirtius would like an instructive lecture from Cicero. At the beginning of the lecture there is a considerable gap in the text, and the end is also missing.

Sources and theories discussed

It is believed that Cicero used a single source, such as a writing by Carnead or Antiochus of Ascalon . However, this cannot be proven. He names the following important philosophers and deals with the doctrines of their school: the megarist Diodoros Kronos , Chrysippos von Soloi , a representative of the Old Stoa , Epicurus and thus Epicureanism and atomism , as well as Karneades from Cyrene, who represents the New Platonic Academy .

content

The thought processes presented are extremely difficult and multifaceted. Reception is made even more difficult by the gaps in the text.

The contrast between fatum (predestination) and voluntas (free will) is placed at the center of his discussions by Cicero. In §§ 7–17 he discusses the weaknesses of the teaching of Chrysippos, who advocates the determination of the future through fatum . But in § 18 he also rejects the rejection of fatality by the Epicureans. From § 23 he introduces a new idea of ​​Carnead: motus voluntarius animi (= voluntary soul movement). Although everything takes place on the basis of previous causes ( i.e. fatum ), it still takes place through the human soul movement ( i.e. voluntas ).

In §§ 39–45, Cicero illuminates the subject from a different angle. He is now based on two doctrines: on the one hand old philosophers (e.g. Aristotle ) who postulate the fatum , on the other hand 'others' who want to know the soul's impulses free from the compulsion of fate . Chrysippos had acted as a mediator between the parties (contradiction to §§ 7-17). For this compromise the term adsensio = consent of the soul (§ 40) is introduced and the term causae = causes fanned out and weakened into inevitable or supportive.

Some of the lines of thought are not entirely conclusive. Some editors have therefore also assumed errors in transmission. In his book Freedom and Determinism, Magnus Schallenberg pursued the theses presented and their origins in various schools of philosophy.

Tradition and continuation

The work is quoted by Aulus Gellius and also by Augustine . Like De natura deorum and De divinatione , it is in the manuscripts Vossianus Lat. Fol. 84 and 86 (Leiden), 9th century and Vindobonensis Lat. 189 (Vienna) 9th century.

Text editions and translations

  • Wilhelm Ax (Ed.): M. Tvlli Ciceronis scripta qvae manservnt omnia , Fasc. 46: De divinations. De fato. Timaevs , (Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana) Leipzig: Teubner 1938. Several reprints; replaced or replaced by:
  • Remo Giomini (ed.):… [As above] : De divinatione. De fato. Timaeus . (BT, see above) Leipzig: Teubner 1975.
  • Marcus Tullius Cicero: De fato. Über das Fatum , Latin-German, ed. by Karl Bayer (Tusculum Collection) Munich: Heimeran-Verlag 1963 u.ö. (4th, revised edition Düsseldorf; Zurich: Artemis and Winkler 2000B).
  • Marcus Tullius Cicero: De fato. About fate . Latin / German, transl. and ed. by Paola Calanchini (RECLAM Universal Library 19351), Stuttgart: Reclam 2015.
  • Marcus Tullius Cicero: About Fate. De fato , Latin-German, ed., Transl. and ext. by Hermann Weidemann , Tusculum Collection , Berlin / Boston: de Gruyter 2019.

literature

  • Karl Bayer: Marcus Tullius Cicero: De fato. Über das Fatum , Appendix, Munich 1963.
  • Elisabeth Begemann: Fate as an Argument. Cicero's speech on "fatum" in the late republic , Stuttgart 2012.
  • Klaus Bringmann : Studies on the late Cicero , Göttingen 1971.
  • Magnus Schallenberg: Freedom and Determinism. A philosophical commentary on Cicero's De fato , Berlin / New York 2008.
  • Josip Talanga: Judgments about the future and fate. An investigation into Aristotle's De interpretatione 9 and Cicero's De fato. With an overview of the Heimarmene teachings of late antiquity , Bonn 1986.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Translation by Christoph Schäublin
  2. ^ Klaus Bringmann: Physics and theology in the philosophical work of Cicero
  3. ↑ Karl Bayer, explanations
  4. ^ Karl Bayer, commentary on § 43
  5. ^ Karl Bayer, Fragments
  6. ^ Karl Bayer, Text Tradition