De finibus bonorum et malorum

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De finibus bonorum et malorum (German "Of the highest good and of the greatest evil", also "About the goals of human action") is a philosophical work of the Roman speaker, politician and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero . It consists of five books in which Cicero deals with the philosophical directions of Epicurean Hedonism , the Stoa and Peripatos and introduces them to the Roman reader. The main theme of the work is the question of the highest good to be striven for . It was created in the summer of 45 BC. Within about a month and a half. Together with the Tusculanae disputationes ("Conversations in Tusculum") written shortly afterwards, De finibus is Cicero's most extensive philosophical work. The work is dedicated to Marcus Junius Brutus .

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First and second book

In the form of a fictional conversation with two friends of Brutus on Cicero's estate near Cumae , Epicurean hedonism is depicted, in which the greatest pleasure, equated with painlessness, is seen as the greatest good. In the second book Cicero criticizes this view, attacking both the hedonistic definition of pleasure and its equation with the highest good.

Third and fourth books

In the third book, Cicero's interlocutor, Marcus Porcius Cato, introduces the doctrine of the Stoa, introducing Latin terms for the technical terms used by the Stoics. The moral good is presented as the highest and only good of the Stoa. In his counter-speech in the fourth book, Cicero doubts the derivation of the stoic conception from an assumed natural state and the exclusion of other goods by this doctrine.

Fifth book

In the last book, Cicero and several friends discuss the doctrine of Peripatos in the form taught by Antiochus of Ascalon . She understands the highest good to be a completely happy life, which includes virtue as well as physical and external goods. Ultimately, however, the logical inconsistency of this teaching is criticized, so that a final evaluation of the best school is not made. Overall, Cicero takes a skeptical stance.

Trivia

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Text output

literature

Web links

Wikisource: De finibus bonorum et malorum  - Sources and full texts (Latin)
Wikiquote: De finibus bonorum et malorum  - quotations