SENECA'S THOUGHT

He Seneca thought (4-65 d. C) focuses on the ethics, giving us a philosophy that does not try to solve the big metaphysical questions. Seneca reflected especially on happiness and the need to maintain moral virtue to achieve it. At unPROFESOR.com we tell you more about this philosopher of classical Rome.

Seneca was a philosopher from Córdoba and advisor to the emperors Claudius and Nero, as well as the latter's preceptor. One of the great personalities of the High Roman Empire both for his philosophical thinking and for his excellent skills as an orator and one of the Stoicism's most prolific philosophers.

In this lesson from unPROFESOR.com we delve into what is Seneca's thought and his contribution to universal philosophy.

Seneca was born in Córdoba in the year 4 AD. c., but he soon traveled to Rome with his family, training there as jurist, rhetorician and philosopher. He was a notable orator and devoted himself to law. He was appointed praetor by the emperor Claudius, and he was also his advisor.

He was banished for 8 years and, upon his return, He was appointed tutor to Nero. Unfortunately for him, Seneca ended up being accused of plotting against the emperor and sentenced to death. Seneca committed suicide following the precepts of Stoicism.

Seneca is considered the most prominent representative of the stoic philosophy. His main concerns were ethical, being a eminently practical philosopher. An approach that will lead him to depart from Stoicism in some aspects and align himself more with some ideas of Cynicism and Epicureanism. Thus, historians of philosophy speak of “senechism” as an eclectic philosophy of a moralistic nature and aimed at being a teaching.

The thought of him has great influence of Poseidonius (c.135 a. C- 51 a. C.), a Greek politician, astronomer, geographer, historian and Stoic philosopher. And he was a great connoisseur of Greek philosophy.

Although some of Seneca's works have been lost, there is evidence that Seneca wrote nine tragedies, one satire against the emperor Claudius, 124 moral epistles to Lucilius, as well as several moral writings in which Seneca's thought was collected, among them:

• Ad Lucilium from Providentia
• Ad Serenum by constantia sapientis
• Ad Novatum of anger
• Ad Marciam de consolatione
• Ad Gallionem de vita beata
• Ad Serenum de otio
• Ad Serenum de tranquillitate animi
• Ad Paulinum de brevitate vitae
• Ad Polybium de consolatione
• Ad Helviam matrem de consolatione
• Ad Aebutium liberalem de beneficiis
• Ad Neronem Caesarem de clementia