Plutarch's Practical Ethics

The Social Dynamics of Philosophy

Inbunden, Engelska, 2010

2 539 kr

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The Second Sophistic (c.AD 60-250) was a time of intense competition for honour and status. Like today, this often caused mental as well as physical stress for the elite of the Roman Empire. This book, which transcends the boundaries between literature, social history, and philosophy, studies Plutarch's practical ethics, a group of twenty-odd texts within the Moralia designed to help powerful Greeks and Romans manage their ambitions and society's expectations successfully. Lieve Van Hoof combines a systematic analysis of the general principles underlying Plutarch's practical ethics, including the author's target readership, therapeutical practices, and self-presentation, with five innovative case studies. A picture emerges of philosophy under the Roman Empire not as a set of abstract, theoretical doctrines, but as a kind of symbolic capital engendering power and prestige for author and reader alike.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2010-06-24
Mått144 x 223 x 32 mm
Vikt564 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor328
FörlagOUP OXFORD
ISBN9780199583263

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Dr Lieve Van Hoof obtained her Ph.D. in Classics from Leuven University (Belgium) in 2006. Since then, she has held a Lectureship in Greek and Latin Literature at the University of Exeter (U.K.), a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship of the Flemish Research Foundation (Belgium), and a Humboldt-Stipendium für erfahrene Wissenschaftler based in Bonn. Currently, she is a Fellow in Residence at the Lichtenberg Kolleg zu Göttingen.

A testimony to Van Hoofs impressively extensive reading, not only in the field of Plutarch studies, but widely in the areas of social studies, both ancient and modern, thus bestowing on her work a most impressive breadth of perspective Van Hoofs analysis is most enlightening. All in all, Van Hoof has produced here a most useful addition to Plutarch studies, one that should both provoke debate and direct more sympathetic attention to this area of Plutarchs work.