Philosophy and community in Seneca's prose

This dissertation examines the social dimensions of the life of philosophical practice in Seneca's prose corpus. It argues that Seneca depends on those dimensions to give specificity to his picture of what a life of examination could be. The dissertation analyzes in detail De Vita Beata, portions of De Beneficiis, and twelve of the Epistulae Morales, but supplementary evidence is drawn from across the range of the prose corpus, and the dissertation aims to suggest the pervasiveness of the concerns it documents.;The introduction explains what is meant by the claim that ancient philosophy constituted an entire way of life and sketches the controversy over the implications of this claim for the distinctively rational character of philosophy. After reviewing the history of Roman engagement with the idea of the philosophical life, the introduction argues that close attention to the narrative and rhetorical aspects of Seneca's work offers a privileged point of entry to the question of how he negotiated and exploited the inherent tension between the claims of philosophical practice and those of social existence.;Each chapter argues that Seneca crucially relies on a particular social institution or relation both to argue for and to define with clarity the life guided by philosophy. The first chapter maintains that Seneca uses both the general idea of political power and the specific value accorded the civil community in Roman tradition to establish the value of philosophical practice. The next chapter shows how the social relations of slavery supplied Seneca with conceptual tools for discussing not only moral freedom but the role of philosophy in realizing that freedom. The third chapter analyzes Seneca's use of the Stoic and the Epicurean schools as social entities, arguing that these formations permit him to explain with nuance and precision his conception of what it means to practice philosophy. The final chapter examines Seneca's views on the possibility of making moral progress in isolation and maintains that it is through reflection on this question that Seneca's belief in the unique efficacy of philosophy as a developed art takes shape. There follows a short summary conclusion.