This Guide presents a multi-perspectival, scholarly collection of essays, the first devoted to one of Cicero's most influential philosophical works.

lgli/Cicero's ‘De Officiis' A Critical Guide (Cambridge Critical Guides) [AN 3617245].pdf

RCOG Press

Cambridge critical guides, First edition, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2023

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

Cover
Half-title page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Works by Cicero
Works by Other Ancient Authors
Modern Works
Introduction
1 Preliminaries
2 De Officiis: Title, Form and Method
3 This Volume: Structure and Chapter Outlines
Part I The Framework of De Officiis
1 The Family in De Officiis
1 Introduction
2 Some Background in Cicero’s Life and Writings
2.a Some Background in Cicero’s Life
2.b Some Background in Cicero’s Theoretical Works: The Origins of Society
3 The Family in De Officiis
3.a The Family and the Origins of the Virtues
3.b The Family and the Virtues and Vices
3.b.i The Family, Justice, and Injustice
3.b.ii The Family and Beneficence
4 Friends and Family in De Officiis
2 Conflict of Duties in Cicero’s De Officiis
1 Cicero’s De Officiis and the Greek Concept of Duty
2 Conflict between Duties of Honourableness and (Seeming) Tragic Dilemmas in De Officiis
3 Conflict between Duties of Expediency and Duties of Honourableness in De Officiis: A False Dilemma
4 Conclusion
Part II The Role of Virtue
3 Oikeiōsis and the Origin of Virtue
1 Introduction
2 Theories of Oikeiōsis
3 The Origin of the Virtues
4 Cicero and Panaetius Revisited
4 Cicero’s Project in Book 2 of De Officiis
1 Human Resource, and How to Harness It
2 Liberality and Largesse
3 Gratitude and Glory
4 Conclusion
5 Cicero’s De Officiis on Practical Deliberation
1 Introduction
2 Stoic Thinking on Practical Deliberation
3 De Officiis as Guidance for Stoic Practical Deliberation
Part III Exemplary Ethics
6 De Officiis and Exemplary Ethics
1 Introduction
2 Regulus as Stoic Exemplum
3 Moving Beyond Panaetius
4 Exempla within Virtue Ethics
5 Situational Ethics
6 The Limitations of Exemplary Ethics
7 Conclusion
7 Emulation and Moral Development in De Officiis
1 Exempla in De Officiis
2 Exempla and Imitation
3 Exempla and (Self-)Analysis
4 Exempla and Practical Ethics
5 Exempla and Emulation
Part IV Self and Society
8 Care of the (Written) Self: Literary and Ethical Decorum in De Officiis
1 Introduction
2 The De Officiis in Context
3 Panaetius and the De Officiis
4 τὸ πρέπον in Aesthetic Context
5 τὸ πρέπον in De Officiis
6 The Long Reach of Cicero’s Decorum
9 Cicero and the Cynics
1 Introduction
2 The Cynic Challenge
3 Cicero against the Cynics
4 The Problem of Cultural Relativism
5 Epilogue: Cicero, Offence, and Multi-Cultural Society
Part V Politics
10 Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism in Cicero’s De Officiis
1 Introduction
2 Natural Loves and the Republic
3 Natural Needs and the Republic
4 Patriotism, Cosmopolitanism, and Violence
5 Liberality and Duties to Strangers
6 Slavery and Citizenship
7 Conclusion
11 Cicero’s Extremist Ethics
1 Introduction
2 Humanity as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or: The Strange Case of De Officiis
3 (Roman) Sociopaths
4 The Foundations of Society: Cicero’s Justice
5 Active and Passive Injustice, the Monster and the Body Politic
6 Conclusion
References
Index

Cicero's De Officiis, perhaps his most influential philosophical work, ranges over a wide variety of themes, from the role of the family in society to the question of whether our duties can conflict with one another, and from the moral significance of offence to the question of whether it is right to kill a dictator. This Critical Guide, the first collection of essays devoted to the work, is helpfully organised in thematic sections and aims to illuminate both the main individual topics of De Officiis and their interconnections, with essays by an international team of contributors that will allow readers to appreciate the work's distinctive blend of philosophical theory and social and political reality. It will be valuable for a range of readers in fields including philosophy, classics and political theory.

"Cicero's De Officiis is perhaps his most influential philosophical work. This Critical Guide, the first collection of essays devoted to the work, explores its richness and variety and will be valuable for a range of readers in fields including philosophy, classics and political theory"-- Provided by publisher

2024-05-15