Seneca on the Self: Why Now?
Seneca on the Self: Why Now?
In urging himself and Lucilius to cultivate a ‘good mentality’ (bona mens), Seneca's principal point is that objective human excellence and authentic happiness depend intrinsically and essentially on the state of one's mind, and only instrumentally and contingently on the health and condition of one's body. This division between mind and body involves the folk psychology recognized in everyday consciousness; and it is compatible with the strict physicalism endorsed both by Stoicism and by most modern theorists. Seneca, moreover, taps completely into the contemporary world when one moves from the academy into popular culture.
Keywords: Stoicism, good mentality, objective human excellence, happiness, body, mind
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