The transcendence of fate in Plato and in Seneca
Part of : Philosophical inquiry ; Vol.34, No.1-2, 2011, pages 91-100
Issue:
Pages:
91-100
Author:
Abstract:
Even though Heimarmene is the natural order of things, as it is claimed in the Laws', and although the human being has to participate in that order, as it is written in Timaeus', Plato, at times, tends to be willing to rupture that circle of necessity, that the “naturality” of Heimarmene enforces on man, by finding a potential escape. The human soul is the unambiguous vehicle of this effort. In the writings of the Stoic Seneca, the transcendence of Fate is a matter correlated with the human life and with moral responsibility. His philosophical aim is focused on overcoming the existential conditions which render man a subjugated as well as a non eudaimonistic being. In both philosophers we diagnose a common theoretical orientation: to break through the limitations that Fate imposes on man’s freedom in the material world. Certainly there is a difference in the degree, frequency and depth that this is critically established in their thought. In our paper, we mean to: a) ascertain this, b) examine the role of the soul, and c) to recognize the ground where “Paideia” may initiate the transcendence of Fate by human means solely.
Subject:
Subject (LC):
Notes:
Περιέχει βιβλιογραφία
