Quid est praecipuum? Status and uses of physics in the Naturales Quaestiones of Seneca the Younger.
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Date
2012
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Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk
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Abstract
The essay analyses the position of physics as defined in Seneca’s Naturales quaestiones: the lore of the universe,
the theoretical serach for the ultimate cause, the serach for necessary truth. This intellectual, infiniti (at least
where humans are concerned) quest appears not only as a fulfillment of the human duty, but results necessary
for (and coextensive with) the acquisition of ethical stand so admired by the Stoics.
Description
It is argued that the Senecan concept of physics, indebted as it is to earlier Stoic writings, allows
the Roman philosopher to think of the respective inquiry in terms of ultimate science, a lore
that brings humans closer to the divine, but also possesses profound ethical consequences. The
understanding of universal law becomes mandatory, but also sufficient for ethical progress, while
the notion of cosmic balance is employed to reject the excess and lack of measure so characteristic
of vice. Under the guise of discussing very particular physical questions, Seneca inquires into
the eternal, immutable Law, thus indicating the way for human betterment and achievement of
perfection.
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Keywords
Seneca, Stoicism, physics, ethics, universal order, providence, theory of knowledge, division of sciences
Citation
Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium, 2012, nr XXII/2, s. 33-48
ISBN
978-83-7654-139-6