Search results for "Sextii"
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Philosophical thought of the School of the Sextii
2014
Around the first half century B.C. the first Roman school of philosophy arose, which was called School of Sextii. The known members of the School were: Quintus Sextius the Elder, founding father of the School, Sextius Niger, Quintus' son, who became scholarch of the School after his father's death, Sotion, Papirius Fabianus (both teachers of Seneca the Younger), Crassicius Pasicles, a grammarian, and Celsius Cornelius, an expert doctor. The School followed the footsteps of the Hellenistic schools, and similar to these, the pursuit of happiness was its purpose. The school of the Sextii had taken to heart that part of the philosophy called physical, characterizing itself mainly as a philosoph…
Commune Ius Animantium (Clem. 1.18.2): Seneca's Naturalism and the Problem of Animal Rights
2013
The present paper focuses on an intriguing passage of Seneca's treatise 'On Clemency' (De Clementia) dealing with the topic of human and animal rights (1.18.1-2). This is the only passage in which the Latin philosopher employs the juridically and philosophically significant expression 'commune ius animantium', thus referring to a form of nature-based 'animal right'. In Seneca's words, there would be a common right of living beings forbidding to perpetrate certain acts of violence. On the whole, however, the passage seems to aim at maintaining the inviolability of human rights, paying special attention to the pitiful condition of slaves. Given the presence of such a man-centered context, sch…