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Single Idea 13558

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / a. Idealistic ethics ]

Full Idea

The highest good is harmony of spirit.

Gist of Idea

The supreme good is harmony of spirit

Source

Seneca the Younger (On the Happy Life [c.60], §08)

Book Ref

Seneca: 'Dialogues and Essays', ed/tr. Davie,John [Penguin 2007], p.92

A Reaction

This idea is straight from Plato's Republic.

Related Idea

Idea 137 As with other things, a good state is organised and orderly [Plato]

The 48 ideas from Seneca the Younger

13290 One joy of learning is making teaching possible [Seneca]
13293 What philosophy offers humanity is guidance [Seneca]
13292 Selfishness does not produce happiness; to live for yourself, live for others [Seneca]
13294 We know death, which is like before birth; ceasing to be and never beginning are the same [Seneca]
13295 Wise people escape necessity by willing it [Seneca]
13297 To the four causes Plato adds a fifth, the idea which guided the event [Seneca]
13301 We are scared of death - except when we are immersed in pleasure! [Seneca]
13299 Living is nothing wonderful; what matters is to die well [Seneca]
13300 It is as silly to lament ceasing to be as to lament not having lived in the remote past [Seneca]
13302 Life is like a play - it is the quality that matters, not the length [Seneca]
13298 Suicide may be appropriate even when it is not urgent, if there are few reasons against it [Seneca]
13303 A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself he is [Seneca]
13305 Character is ruined by not looking back over our pasts, since the future rests on the past [Seneca]
13307 If everything can be measured, try measuring the size of a man's soul [Seneca]
13310 Wisdom does not lie in books, and unread people can also become wise [Seneca]
13309 That something is a necessary condition of something else doesn't mean it caused it [Seneca]
13313 Even philosophers have got bogged down in analysing tiny bits of language [Seneca]
13312 Excessive curiosity is a form of intemperance [Seneca]
13308 It's no good winning lots of fights, if you are then conquered by your own temper [Seneca]
13311 Does time exist on its own? Did anything precede it? Did it pre-exist the cosmos? [Seneca]
13315 To govern used to mean to serve, not to rule; rulers did not test their powers over those who bestowed it [Seneca]
13317 Philosophy aims at happiness [Seneca]
13318 Nature doesn't give us virtue; we must unremittingly pursue it, as a training and an art [Seneca]
13319 If we control our own death, no one has power over us [Seneca]
13324 Living contrary to nature is like rowing against the stream [Seneca]
13321 Is anything sweeter than valuing yourself more when you find you are loved? [Seneca]
13320 Sometimes we have a duty not to commit suicide, for those we love [Seneca]
13322 Both teachers and pupils should aim at one thing - the improvement of the pupil [Seneca]
21399 Referring to a person, and speaking about him, are very different [Seneca]
22239 Humans acquired the concept of virtue from an analogy with bodily health and strength [Seneca, by Allen]
13323 The whole point of pleasure-seeking is novelty, and abandoning established ways [Seneca]
13325 Trouble in life comes from copying other people, which is following convention instead of reason [Seneca]
13552 Anger is an extreme vice, threatening sanity, and gripping whole states [Seneca]
13553 Anger is a vice which afflicts good men as well as bad [Seneca]
13554 True greatness is never allowing events to disturb you [Seneca]
13556 Every night I critically review how I have behaved during the day [Seneca]
13548 The ocean changes in volume in proportion to the attraction of the moon [Seneca]
13549 Nothing bad can happen to a good man [Seneca]
13550 To be always happy is to lack knowledge of one half of nature [Seneca]
13557 Unfortunately the majority do not tend to favour what is best [Seneca]
13558 The supreme good is harmony of spirit [Seneca]
13559 I seek virtue, because it is its own reward [Seneca]
13560 A wise man is not subservient to anything [Seneca]
13561 Virtue is always moderate, so excess need not be feared [Seneca]
13563 Why does your wife wear in her ears the income of a wealthy house? [Seneca]
13562 It is shameful to not even recognise your own slaves [Seneca]
13564 There is far more scope for virtue if you are wealthy; poverty only allows endurance [Seneca]
13565 If wealth was a good, it would make men good [Seneca]