In this Book
- Virtues for the People: Aspects of Plutarchan Ethics
- 2011
- Book
- Published by: Leuven University Press

summary
Plutarch of Chaeronea, Platonist, polymath, and prolific writer, was by no means an armchair philosopher. He believed in the necessity for a philosopher to affect the lives of his fellow citizens. That urge inspired many of his writings to meet what he considered people's true needs. Although these writings on practical ethics illustrate in various ways Plutarch's authorial talents and raise many challenging questions (regarding their overall structure, content, purpose, and underlying philosophical and social presuppositions), they have attracted only limited scholarly attention.
Virtues for the People contains a collection of essays that deal with these questions from different perspectives and as such throw a new light upon this multifaceted domain of Plutarch's thinking and writing. Special points of interest are the concept of ‘popular philosophy' itself and its implications, its dependence on a more theoretical philosophical background, and the importance of moral progress, the therapy of wickedness, and the common experiences of everyday life.
Table of Contents
- 1. Virtues for the people
- pp. 17-18
- 2. Some theoretical questions on ethical praxis
- pp. 131-132
- 3. Virtues and vices
- pp. 203-204
- 4. ‘Popular philosophy’ in context
- pp. 257-258
- Bibliography
- pp. 327-350
- Index Locorum
- pp. 351-376
Additional Information
ISBN
9789461661180
Related ISBN
9789058678584
MARC Record
OCLC
876671467
Pages
320
Launched on MUSE
2015-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
Yes