Overview

The Roman philosopher Seneca addressed himself to the question of how we ought to live in letters and treatises that have engaged the attention of readers from his own day to the present. A committed, if critical and eccentric, adherent of Stoicism, he gives us a set of reflections on the good life that are rich both in philosophical subtlety and in vivid engagement with day-to-day life in ancient Rome. Philosophy and Community in Seneca's Prose proposes a new understanding of the relationship between these two facets of Seneca's achievement, examining how he balances the Socratic imperative to subject one's life to rational scrutiny, on the one hand, with the claims of Roman moral tradition on the other. Carey Seal argues that we should think of Seneca neither as a spokesman for Stoicism who seizes opportunistically upon the data of Roman social life to make his case, nor as an expositor of the inherited values of the Roman elite in the language of Stoic philosophy. Rather, Seneca should be understood as someone intensely interested in the question of philosophy's social entanglements and presuppositions. Seneca's use of Roman politics and of the institution of slavery in elaborating his ideal of a life guided by reason is carefully examined in the book.

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9780190493219

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Reviews

Seal significantly and engagingly offers the reader a compellingly novel anatomical elucidation of Seneca's response to the challenge of pursuing an authentic path of Stoicism while simultaneously maintaining an active public profile in the imperial Roman community.... Highly recommended. * CHOICE * Philosophy and Community in Seneca's Prose is a clearly written and cogently argued monograph; each chapter offers deep dives into select letters that will become necessary reading for scholars and students interested in those letters ... Seal convincingly places Seneca's Stoicism in its larger social, political, and literary worlds and reveals how aspects of those worlds are marshalled by Seneca to push his philosophical agenda. * Christopher Trinacty, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

Philosophy and Community in Seneca's Prose is a clearly written and cogently argued monograph; each chapter offers deep dives into select letters that will become necessary reading for scholars and students interested in those letters ... Seal convincingly places Seneca's Stoicism in its larger social, political, and literary worlds and reveals how aspects of those worlds are marshalled by Seneca to push his philosophical agenda. * Christopher Trinacty, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

Author Information

Carey Seal is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of California, Davis.

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