Investigating Marcus Aurelius' Stoic Opinions Based on Statistical Analysis of the Meditations Book

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 M.A, Department of Moral Philosophy, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Moral Philosophy, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

Abstract

In recent years, the Stoic school, which has a moral nature, has been considered as a way of life. The opinions and beliefs of Marcus Aurelius, who is one of the most important Stoic philosophers, can be extracted from his only remaining work, the Meditations. In this article, an attempt has been made to determine the importance and emphasis of various Stoic beliefs and opinions by examining and analyzing the beliefs of Aurelius. With this method, you can get a better picture of Aurelius' beliefs and ideas. His views and thoughts are divided into different sections, including cosmology, anthropology, epistemology, and ethics. Each of his beliefs is documented with precise reference to his own sentences, and the relationship between his different beliefs is well-defined in this way. Looking statistically at the book of meditations, it should be said that Aurelius was not a philosopher of death, but a philosopher of ethics and life, and Stoicism was not a philosophy of isolation and political passivity, which is an incentive for altruism and social responsibility. It is also clear that the book of reflections can be called treatises on the relief of suffering and anger, and Stoicism can be considered a philosophy for peace, not a philosophy for loneliness and withdrawal.

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References

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