Single Idea 21405

[catalogued under 1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom]

Full Idea

Cicero (drawing on Panaetius) treats wisdom as if its province were primarily a disinterested pursuit of knowledge. But earlier Stoics gave purely moral definitions of wisdom.

Gist of Idea

Cicero sees wisdom in terms of knowledge, but earlier Stoics saw it as moral

Source

report of M. Tullius Cicero (On Duties ('De Officiis') [c.44 BCE], 1.11-20) by A.A. Long - Hellenistic Philosophy 5

Book Reference

Long,A.A.: 'Hellenistic Philosophy' [Duckworth 1986], p.212


A Reaction

I would have thought that after long discussion most ancient (and even modern) philosophers would conclude that it is both. The 'intellectualism' of Socrates hovers in the background, implying that healthy knowledge produces virtue.