Nature and the Good: An exploration of ancient ethical naturalism in Cicero’s De finibus

Authors

  • Juan Pablo Bermúdez-Rey Author University of Toronto

Keywords:

Cicero, ethical naturalism, rationalization, disenchantment

Abstract

DOI: 10.5294/pecu.2011.14.2.3

This paper investigates the differences between ancient Greek and modern ethical naturalism,through the account of the whole classical tradition provided by Cicero in De finibus bonorum et malorum. Eversince Hume’s remarks on the topic, it is usually held that derivations of normative claims from factual claimsrequire some kind of proper justification. It´s a the presence of such justifications in the Epicurean, Stoic, andAcademic-Peripatetic ethical theories (as portrayed in De finibus), and, after a negative conclusion, I argue thatwe should conceive of this issue within a social-historical perspective: The radical difference between ancientand modern naturalistic ethics is due (in Weber’s terms) to the rationalization processes that generated themodern outlook on nature. DOI: 10.5294/pecu.2011.14.2.3

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Published

2012-01-27

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2011)

Section

Research Articles

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