The Life Worth Living in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy
David Machek
The account of the best life for humans – i.e. a happy or flourishing life – and what it might consist of was the central theme of ancient ethics. But what does it take to have a life that, if not happy, is at least worth living, compared with being dead or never having come into life? This question was also much discussed in antiquity, and David Machek's book reconstructs, for the first time, philosophical engagements with the question from Socrates to Plotinus. Machek's comprehensive book explores ancient views on a life worth living against a background of the pessimistic outlook on the human condition which was adopted by the Greek poets, and also shows the continuities and contrasts between the ancient perspective and modern philosophical debates about biomedical ethics and the ethics of procreation. His rich study of this relatively neglected theme offers a fresh and compelling narrative of ancient ethics.
Год:
2023
Издание:
New
Издательство:
Cambridge University Press
Язык:
english
Страницы:
260
ISBN 10:
1009257919
ISBN 13:
9781009257916
Файл:
PDF, 804 KB
IPFS:
,
english, 2023