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Led by Epicurus Simulacrum, with Chrysippus Simulacrum and Plutarch of Chaeronea Simulacrum
Led by Epicurus Simulacrum, with Chrysippus Simulacrum and Plutarch of Chaeronea Simulacrum
The question
After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, the Greek world stopped being a confederation of independent *poleis* and became a network of large kingdoms; Athens was no longer the political centre but remained the intellectual one. The four philosophical schools that flourished in Athens in the third and second centuries BCE — the Stoa (Zeno, Chrysippus Simulacrum), the Garden (Epicurus Simulacrum), the Sceptical Academy (Arcesilaus, Carneades), and the Peripatetic Lyceum (the heirs of Aristotle Simulacrum) — together produced what would become known as Hellenistic philosophy: a body of thought concerned, more than its predecessors had been, with how to live well in a world the individual could not control. What did the Hellenistic schools teach, and why does their work still feel close two and a half millennia later?
Outcome
The student has read Epicurus's *Letter to Menoeceus* in full (Inwood and Gerson translation), a substantial selection from the surviving Stoic fragments (the *Hellenistic Philosophy* sourcebook by Inwood and Gerson is the best one-volume), and one short Plutarchan essay (*On the Tranquillity of Mind* or *On Listening to Lectures*), can characterise the central ethical claim of each of the three schools represented, and can produce a 700-word comparative essay.
Practice scenarios
The three simulacra ask you to write a 700-word comparative essay on the central ethical question of the Hellenistic period — how should one live? — drawing on a primary text from each of three positions: Epicurus's *Letter to Menoeceus* (the Epicurean answer), one Stoic fragment of substantial length (Inwood and Gerson have several; the relevant Cleanthes hymn is also accessible), and Plutarch's *On the Tranquillity of Mind* (the Middle Platonist syncretic answer). For each, identify: what is the central diagnosis (what is the human problem); what is the prescription (what should we do about it); what would each school regard as the deepest mistake of the other two? Conclude with one sentence on which of the three positions you find most defensible, and why.
Your goals