Elizabeth Asmis
Biographic Data
| ID | 461965 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elizabeth Asmis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elizabeth |
| FAMILY NAME | Asmis |
| SIGNATURE | ASMIS E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Chicago |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 55 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1972 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Living with Others: Epicureans on Justice and Pity
This chapter addresses the question: Does Epicurus’s theory of justice admit a concern for others for their sake? Epicurus famously held that justice, like the other virtues, is to be cultivated for the sake of one’s own pleasure. Ancient and modern critics alike have wondered whether this doctrine leaves room for genuine other-regarding concern. This chapter will examine the question in two parts. Sections 1–3 will first present Epicurus’s own a…
Epicurus in Rome: Philosophical Perspectives in the Ciceronian Age
The role of Greek thought in the final days of the Roman republic is a topic that has garnered much attention in recent years. This volume of essays, commissioned specially from a distinguished international group of scholars, explores the role and influence of Greek philosophy, specifically Epicureanism, in the late republic. It focuses primarily (although not exclusively) on the works and views of Cicero, premier politician and Roman philosophe…
Epicurus in Rome: Philosophical Perspectives in the Ciceronian Age
The role of Greek thought in the final days of the Roman republic is a topic that has garnered much attention in recent years. This volume of essays, commissioned specially from a distinguished international group of scholars, explores the role and influence of Greek philosophy, specifically Epicureanism, in the late republic. It focuses primarily (although not exclusively) on the works and views of Cicero, premier politician and Roman philosophe…
The Stoics on Women
Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, wrote in his Republic that “women should be common to wise so that any has any he comes upon by chance.” The Stoics embedded the family in a social order which ultimately encompassed the entire human race. Following the Stoic Panaetius, Cicero distinguishes three main circles in his set of concentric circles: the family, political society, and the community of all humans. Hierocles’ circles are demarcated somewhat d…
A New Kind of Model: Cicero’s Roman Constitution in De Republica
This article attempts to answer the question: What makes the Roman constitution “by far the best,” as Cicero claims in De republica? Following Polybius, Cicero analyses the Roman constitution as a mixed constitution, which both regard as the best type of constitution. Cicero, however, does not merely impute the best type of constitution to the Romans. He elevates the Roman constitution above all other mixed constitutions as the single best consti…
Lucretius’ Reception of Epicurus: De Rerum Natura as a Conversion Narrative
This paper starts with the familiar question: how appropriate is Lucretius’ use of poetry to present Epicurus’ prose teachings? I suggest that Lucretius used the term lucida in the phrase lucida carmina (at 1.933) to signify not only clarity of exposition but also the truth of illumination. I develop my proposal in two parts. The first part (“Reception”) views Lucretius, with reference to Stoic theory, as a recipient of Epicurus’ prose writings, …
Art and Morality
This chapter focuses on the contributions made by Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Epicureans to the problem of morality in art. It concentrates on poetry as the art that was at the center of debate in antiquity. Starting with Plato's demand that poetry should be both pleasant and morally useful, it discusses how Plato sought to reform poetry in the Republic and Laws to meet this demand. It also suggests that Plato developed a new conception…
Seneca’s Originality
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The Cambridge Companion to Seneca
The Roman statesman, philosopher and playwright Lucius Annaeus Seneca dramatically influenced the progression of Western thought. His works have had an unparalleled impact on the development of ethical theory, shaping a code of behavior for dealing with tyranny in his own age that endures today. This Companion thoroughly examines the complete Senecan corpus, with special emphasis on the aspects of his writings that have challenged interpretation.…
The necessity of anger in Philodemus' On Anger
Philodemus' On Anger (De ira; = PHerc. 182) ends with a surprise. As he concludes his book, Philodemus tells the reader that the assumption of harm is not a sufficient condition of anger. In response to an opponent, Philodemus argues that just as it does not follow that a person becomes wise if he is literate, so it does not follow that a wise person becomes angry if he assumes that another has harmed him. The assumption of harm is a necessary, b…
Epicurean empiricism
The Epicureans held that perceptions serve as a foundation of scientific inference and, further, that all perceptions are true. This is a unique position among ancient philosophers, and it provoked vigorous attacks. Lucretius defended the Epicurean position with an image: just as a building will collapse if the initial measuring rod is crooked, so reason will collapse if it starts out with false perceptions (DRN 4.513-21). This chapter considers …
Lucretius' New World Order: Making a Pact With Nature
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
A New Kind of Model: Cicero's Roman Constitution in De republica
This article attempts to answer the question: What makes the Roman constitution "by far the best," as Cicero claims in De republica? Following Polybius, Cicero analyses the Roman constitution as a mixed constitution, which both regard as the best type of constitution. Cicero, however, does not merely impute the best type of constitution to the Romans. He elevates the Roman constitution above all other mixed constitutions as the single best consti…
Basic Education in Epicureanism
This chapter examines how Epicurean education was intended to serve as an alternative system of education. It first examines the Epicurean policy of admitting anyone at all to the study of philosophy, and then considers how the Epicureans sought to initiate this range of people into the pursuit of philosophy. Epicurean education may be divided roughly into two main stages, basic and advanced. The chapter deals only with the basic stage, in order …
Epicurean epistemology
The two main issues of Epicurean epistemology may be put as follows: what is the foundation of knowledge; and how is knowledge built on this foundation? There is general agreement that Epicurus proposed to rely on sensory observations as a means of knowing what is unobserved. But there is much debate on the extent to which he proposed to rely on empirical observations, on what he took to be the basic objects of observation, and on how he proposed…
The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy
A full account of the philosophy of the Greek and Roman worlds from the last days of Aristotle (c.320 BC) until 100 BC. Hellenistic philosophy, for long relatively neglected and unappreciated, has over the last decade been the object of a considerable amount of scholarly attention. Now available in paperback, this 1999 volume is a general reference work which pulls the subject together and presents an overview. The History is organised by subject…
Philodemus on Censorship, Moral Utility, and Formalism in Poetry
Heraclitus thought that Homer and Archilochus should be “thrown out of the contests and flogged” (EK TWV aywvwv EK aAAec0at Kat paTT{{ec0at).1 More than four centuries later, the censor with his rod appears again in Philodemus’ On Poems. Philodemus objects that the demand for usefulness in a poem EKpaTT{{ei, “flogs out” or “expels with the rod,” the most beautiful poems.2 In the intervening centuries, Plato had proposed a sweeping program of cens…
Epicurean Poetics
If one were to ask people to rank the contributions made by the Epicureans to philosophy, I would not be surprised if poetic theory were near the bottom of most people’s lists, or altogether missing, whereas poetry itself might well be at the top. The ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry seems to have played itself out in an extreme paradox in Epicureanism. Epicurus has the reputation of being the most hostile to poetry of any Greek phil…
Epicureanism
A philosophical movement founded by Epicurus (341–270 b.c.). Born at Samos, Epi curus established a school of philosophy called “the Gar den” (Gk kepos) in Athens after he settled there in 307– 306 b.c. Only a few of his many writings have survived. We have three complete letters: Letter to Herodotu
Plato on poetic creativity
In Book X of the Republic, Plato expels the poetry of Homer and his followers- "the poetry of pleasure" as he calls it- from his ideal state by observing that there is an ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry. At the same time, he expresses a willingness to put aside the quarrel. His spokesman, Socrates, throws out a challenge: If the poetry of pleasure or its defenders can show that it is "not only pleasant, but also useful for cities an…
The Cambridge Companion to Plato
Plato stands as the fount of our philosophical tradition, being the first Western thinker to produce a body of writing that touches upon a wide range of topics still discussed by philosophers today. In a sense he invented philosophy as a distinct subject, for although many of these topics were discussed by his intellectual predecessors and contemporaries, he was the first to bring them together by giving them a unitary treatment. This volume cont…
Platonic Piety: Philosophy and Ritual in Fourth-Century Athens . Michael L. Morgan
An Epicurean Survey of Poetic Theories (Philodemus On Poems 5, Cols. 26–36)
If one wants to know what happened in Hellenistic poetic theory, Philodemus' survey of poetic theories in the fifth book of his On Poems is an excellent guide. Even though I the survey is well preserved, it has been neglected. Jensen, who published the first complete edition of On Poems 5 in 1923, did not discuss this part of the text; and it has been treated only briefly by others. This is a pity because, as Philodemus shows, the Hellenistic per…
Neoptolemus and the Classification of Poetry
Crates on Poetic Criticism
CRATES OF MALLOS IS WELL KNOWN in classical scholarship, but his reputation is not very enviable. Although posterity has admired his learning, he is regarded as something of a crank. Even Varro, who borrowed from him, accused him of obtuseness. I would like to suggest in this paper that Crates deserves a better fate. He developed a theory of poetry that is not widely known today, but ranks as a major contribution to the history of aesthetics
A New Kind of Model: Cicero's Roman Constitution in De republica
This article attempts to answer the question: What makes the Roman constitution "by far the best," as Cicero claims in De republica? Following Polybius, Cicero analyses the Roman constitution as a mixed constitution, which both regard as the best type of constitution. Cicero, however, does not merely impute the best type of constitution to the Romans. He elevates the Roman constitution above all other mixed constitutions as the single best consti…
Neoptolemus and the Classification of Poetry
An Epicurean Survey of Poetic Theories (Philodemus On Poems 5, Cols. 26–36)
If one wants to know what happened in Hellenistic poetic theory, Philodemus' survey of poetic theories in the fifth book of his On Poems is an excellent guide. Even though I the survey is well preserved, it has been neglected. Jensen, who published the first complete edition of On Poems 5 in 1923, did not discuss this part of the text; and it has been treated only briefly by others. This is a pity because, as Philodemus shows, the Hellenistic per…
Lucretius' New World Order: Making a Pact With Nature
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Philomathes. Studies and Essays in the Humanities in Memory of Philip Merlan
Epicurus: An Introduction
The Presocratics
Galenism. Rise and Decline of a Medical Philosophy
Owsei Temkin is the most outstanding historian of medicine alive today, and it is possible that we shall never again see in this discipline a scholar of his brilliance and versatility.Since his first paper of 1927 he has written on a great variety of subjects, ranging from Ancient Egypt to nineteenth-century physiology, each publication being a model of impeccable scholarship.Despite his catholic tastes in the historical and philosophical aspects…
The Origins of Stoic Cosmology
Epicurus' Scientific Method
I argued that Epicurus sought to infer all truths about what cannot be perceived (what is "non-apparent", adêlon) by using what is perceived (the "phenomena") as "signs" of what is non-apparent. This is an empirical method, based on the claim that sensory perception shows what is true. In the case of his basic physical doctrines, Epicurus argued by a reductio ad absurdum that if the negation of the doctrine were true, there would be a conflict wi…
Epicurus' Scientific Method
The Platonic Cosmology
Epicurus' Scientific Method
The Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius
Seneca's On the Happy Life and Stoic Individualism
Philodemus’ Epicureanism
The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science
G.E.R. Lloyd's wide-ranging and historical study of the development of Greek science is a valuable contribution to current debates in the philosophy of language, on the analysis of scientific revolutions, and the rationality of science
Epicureanism
A philosophical movement founded by Epicurus (341–270 b.c.). Born at Samos, Epi curus established a school of philosophy called “the Gar den” (Gk kepos) in Athens after he settled there in 307– 306 b.c. Only a few of his many writings have survived. We have three complete letters: Letter to Herodotu
Plato on poetic creativity
In Book X of the Republic, Plato expels the poetry of Homer and his followers- "the poetry of pleasure" as he calls it- from his ideal state by observing that there is an ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry. At the same time, he expresses a willingness to put aside the quarrel. His spokesman, Socrates, throws out a challenge: If the poetry of pleasure or its defenders can show that it is "not only pleasant, but also useful for cities an…
The Cambridge Companion to Plato
Plato stands as the fount of our philosophical tradition, being the first Western thinker to produce a body of writing that touches upon a wide range of topics still discussed by philosophers today. In a sense he invented philosophy as a distinct subject, for although many of these topics were discussed by his intellectual predecessors and contemporaries, he was the first to bring them together by giving them a unitary treatment. This volume cont…
Platonic Piety: Philosophy and Ritual in Fourth-Century Athens . Michael L. Morgan
An Epicurean Survey of Poetic Theories (Philodemus On Poems 5, Cols. 26–36)
If one wants to know what happened in Hellenistic poetic theory, Philodemus' survey of poetic theories in the fifth book of his On Poems is an excellent guide. Even though I the survey is well preserved, it has been neglected. Jensen, who published the first complete edition of On Poems 5 in 1923, did not discuss this part of the text; and it has been treated only briefly by others. This is a pity because, as Philodemus shows, the Hellenistic per…
Neoptolemus and the Classification of Poetry
Crates on Poetic Criticism
CRATES OF MALLOS IS WELL KNOWN in classical scholarship, but his reputation is not very enviable. Although posterity has admired his learning, he is regarded as something of a crank. Even Varro, who borrowed from him, accused him of obtuseness. I would like to suggest in this paper that Crates deserves a better fate. He developed a theory of poetry that is not widely known today, but ranks as a major contribution to the history of aesthetics
Philodemus on Censorship, Moral Utility, and Formalism in Poetry
Heraclitus thought that Homer and Archilochus should be “thrown out of the contests and flogged” (EK TWV aywvwv EK aAAec0at Kat paTT{{ec0at).1 More than four centuries later, the censor with his rod appears again in Philodemus’ On Poems. Philodemus objects that the demand for usefulness in a poem EKpaTT{{ei, “flogs out” or “expels with the rod,” the most beautiful poems.2 In the intervening centuries, Plato had proposed a sweeping program of cens…
Epicurean Poetics
If one were to ask people to rank the contributions made by the Epicureans to philosophy, I would not be surprised if poetic theory were near the bottom of most people’s lists, or altogether missing, whereas poetry itself might well be at the top. The ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry seems to have played itself out in an extreme paradox in Epicureanism. Epicurus has the reputation of being the most hostile to poetry of any Greek phil…
Epicurean epistemology
The two main issues of Epicurean epistemology may be put as follows: what is the foundation of knowledge; and how is knowledge built on this foundation? There is general agreement that Epicurus proposed to rely on sensory observations as a means of knowing what is unobserved. But there is much debate on the extent to which he proposed to rely on empirical observations, on what he took to be the basic objects of observation, and on how he proposed…
The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy
A full account of the philosophy of the Greek and Roman worlds from the last days of Aristotle (c.320 BC) until 100 BC. Hellenistic philosophy, for long relatively neglected and unappreciated, has over the last decade been the object of a considerable amount of scholarly attention. Now available in paperback, this 1999 volume is a general reference work which pulls the subject together and presents an overview. The History is organised by subject…
Basic Education in Epicureanism
This chapter examines how Epicurean education was intended to serve as an alternative system of education. It first examines the Epicurean policy of admitting anyone at all to the study of philosophy, and then considers how the Epicureans sought to initiate this range of people into the pursuit of philosophy. Epicurean education may be divided roughly into two main stages, basic and advanced. The chapter deals only with the basic stage, in order …
Classical Philosophy and Thought (30 works) · Philosophy (26 works) · Epistemology (19 works) · Art (18 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (15 works) · Literature (14 works) · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies (13 works) · History (12 works) · Classics (11 works) · Epicureanism (10 works)