Paradoxa Stoicorum

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Paradoxa Stoicorum is the title of a small philosophical work that Cicero wrote in the spring of 46 BC. Chr. Composed. It is a discussion of some of the moral philosophical doctrines that have been called paradoxes by the followers of the Stoa because they 'were in conflict with the prevailing consciousness of the average person'.

Cicero's treatment of the stoa

Cicero deals several times in his extensive oeuvre with the ethics of the Stoics, where he takes controversial positions. In the Pro Murena speech in 63 BC He attacks the Stoic Cato the Younger with exaggerated theses. In the Paradoxa Stoicorum he presents positive aspects of the doctrine. Then he writes in De finibus in book pair III / IV a defense of the doctrine which he puts into Cato the younger and a refutation by himself.

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Proemium

Cicero dedicates the work to Marcus Junius Brutus . He pays tribute to his uncle Cato the Younger as a representative of the stoic doctrine and shows the intention to present some stoic thoughts in such a way that they are accepted by the masses, although these statements cause amazement and contradiction.

The paradoxes

It is not Cicero's intention to provide a comprehensive account of the Stoa. Rather, he has selected 6 key sentences in which he can show his eloquence:

  • Only the moral is a good
  • No one who possesses virtue lacks anything for a happy life
  • Wrongs are as alike as good deeds
  • Every fool is insane
  • Only the wise is free, and every fool is a slave
  • Only the wise are rich

Explanations

Cicero relates the Greek paradoxes to early Roman virtues . Only the wise one gets rich B. related to the frugal ancestor Manius Manilius . This also gives Cicero an opportunity to criticize the luxurious exaggerations of his presence. With the chosen examples he shifts the accents and reduces the provocative nature of the paradoxes. In the Pro Murena speech he had mockingly asked:
whoever kills a domestic cock without need is no more missing than the one who strangles his father,
so in the paradox of the killing of a slave he contrasts the killing of the father, whereby he is still responsible for the latter act uses ethically motivated special cases.

Aftermath and Tradition

The paradoxa stoicorum did not have much of an aftereffect. Only brief excerpts from some early medieval scholars such as Alcuin and Rabanus Maurus are known.
The earliest surviving manuscripts are three Carolingian manuscripts from the 9th century, the Leiden Vossianus Latinus F. 84 (86) and Vindobonensis 189 . The book is handed down here together with seven other philosophical writings by Cicero. Johannes Fust and Peter Schöffer
published the first printed edition in Mainz in 1465.

Text editions and translations

  • M. Tullius Cicero: De legibus, paradoxa stoicorum , edited, translated and explained by Rainer Nickel , Düsseldorf 1994
  • M. Tullius Cicero: The political speeches , edited, translated and explained by Manfred Fuhrmann , Munich 1991

Web links

literature

  • Jürgen Leonhardt : Cicero's Critique of Philosophy Schools , Munich 1999
  • Michele V. Ronnick: Cicero's "Paradoxa Stoicorum": A commentary, an Interpretation and a Study of Its Influence , Frankfurt, 1991

Individual evidence

  1. ^ M. Tullius Cicero: De legibus, paradoxa stoicorum , introduction, Rainer Nickel
  2. ↑ Jürgen Leonhardt: Cicero's criticism of the schools of philosophy , 3.5 Cicero's treatment of the Stoa
  3. ^ M. Tullius Cicero: The political speeches, Pro Murena
  4. ↑ Michele V. Ronnick, Cicero's "Paradoxa Stoicorum" , Chapter 4