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43The wise should rule - Desmond philosopher-kings of antiquity. Pp. X + 256. London and new York: Continuum, 2011. Cased, £19.99. Isbn: 978-0-8264-3475-3 (review)The Classical Review 64 (1): 66-68. 2014.
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38Daniel S. Werner , Myth and Philosophy in Plato's Phaedrus . Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 33 (5): 421-423. 2013.
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36Raphael Woolf. Cicero: The Philosophy of a Roman Sceptic. Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 35 (6): 319-320. 2015.
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35Cicero De Senectute- (A.) Sjöblad Metaphors Cicero Lived By. The Metaphor and Simile in De senectute. (Studia Graeca et Latina Lundensia 16.) Pp. iv + 204. Lund: Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, 2009. Paper. ISBN: 978-91-628-7799-6 (review)The Classical Review 61 (1): 112-113. 2011.
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32Plato’s Critique of Antisthenes on Pleasure and the Good LifeAncient Philosophy 35 (2): 329-349. 2015.The anonymous anti-hedonists at Philebus 44a–53c make three bold claims: (1) there are in fact no such things as pleasures; (2) what the hedonist followers of Philebus call pleasure is really nothing but escape from pain; (3) there is nothing healthy in pleasure (pleasure is never a good). These anti-hedonists are commonly identified with Speusippus, Plato’s nephew and his successor as head of the Academy. In this paper I first argue that this widely favoured view should be rejected. I then make…Read more
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29Demetrius of Laconia and the debate between the Stoics and the Epicureans on the nature of parental loveClassical Quarterly 67 (1): 149-162. 2017.Epicurus denies that human beings have natural parental love for their children, and his account of the development of justice and human political community does not involve any natural affinity between human beings in general but rather a form of social contract. The Stoics to the contrary assert that parental love is natural; and, moreover, they maintain that natural parental love is the first principle of social οἰκείωσις, which provides the basis for the naturalness of justice and human poli…Read more
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28Lucretius and Civil StrifePhoenix 66 97-121. 2012.I reconstruct the Epicurean philosophical position on civil strife and examine Lucretius’ engagement with the topic against it. I challenge the scholarly consensus and argue that there is in fact no compulsion to explain Lucretius’ concern with civil strife by appeal to a preoccupation with contemporary events.
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25Marina Berzins McCoy , Wounded Heroes: Vulnerability as a Virtue in Ancient Greek Literature and Philosophy . Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 35 (1): 35-37. 2015.
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24A New Perspective on Antisthenes: Logos, Predicate and Ethics in His Philosophy by P. A. Meijer (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 56 (1): 169-170. 2018.Antisthenes of Athens was a contemporary follower of Socrates who wrote prolifically on topics ranging from semantics to ethics to Homeric criticism. He was also a fierce rival of Plato and, in our ancient sources, his austere ethical views are sometimes presented as an inspiration for the Cynic and Stoic schools of philosophy. Evidently, Antisthenes was a major figure in antiquity, but we have only second-hand reports of his philosophical life and legacy. The most prominent modern scholarship o…Read more
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23Brad Inwood, ed. , Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Volume 39 . Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 32 (6): 475-480. 2012.OSAP vol 39 TOC includes papers on Plato and Aristotle with one paper on Plotinus.
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23Philosophy and Political Power in Antiquity, edited by Cinzia Arruzza (review)Polis 35 (1): 312-315. 2018.
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19Susan H. Prince, Antisthenes of Athens: Texts, Translations, and Commentary. Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 36 (5): 218-219. 2016.
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19Brad Inwood, ed. , Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Volume 38 . Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 32 (6): 475-480. 2012.
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18Old Men in Cicero's Political PhilosophyIn Nathan Gilbert, Margaret Graver & Sean McConnell (eds.), Power and persuasion in Cicero's philosophy, Cambridge University Press. pp. 218-240. 2023.In his philosophical works Cicero addresses a number of questions concerning the role of old men in politics, most obviously in his dialogue De senectute of 44 BCE. How best should the old participate in politics and the wider community—what, if anything, do the old have to offer that is special or unique? How should the generations fit together in the body politic, and should age be a factor in the structural organisation of states? Should the old rule? This chapter makes the following argument…Read more
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18Review of M. Schofield (2021) Cicero: Political Philosophy (Oxford University Press)’ (review)Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2021. 2021.
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17Power and persuasion in Cicero's philosophy (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2023.This interdisciplinary volume will be essential reading for students and scholars working on Greco-Roman philosophy, Roman rhetoric, and the history and literary culture of the Roman Republic. It showcases innovative methodological approaches to Cicero the philosopher and defines new directions for the immediate future of the field.
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17Philosophical Life in Cicero's LettersCambridge University Press. 2014.Cicero's letters are saturated with learned philosophical allusions and arguments. This innovative study shows just how fundamental these are for understanding Cicero's philosophical activities and for explaining the enduring interest of his ethical and political thought. Dr McConnell draws particular attention to Cicero's treatment of Plato's Seventh Letter and his views on the relationship between philosophy and politics. He also illustrates the various ways in which Cicero finds philosophy an…Read more
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16Brad Inwood, ed. , Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Volume 41 . Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 32 (6): 475-480. 2012.
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15Philosophical role-playing in Cicero's letters to Paetus, 46 BCAntichthon 56. 2022.In his letters to Lucius Papirius Paetus from 46 BC Cicero provides striking reports on his thoughts and activities as he seeks to accommodate himself to the new political realities following Caesar’s decisive victory over the republican forces in Africa. In these letters Cicero also engages in a kind of performative role-playing: he casts himself variously as a teacher of oratory to two of Caesar’s close associates (Hirtius and Dolabella), as a bon vivant immersed in the Caesarian social scene,…Read more
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14Jonathan Zarecki: Cicero’s Ideal Statesman in Theory and Practice. London/New York: Bloomsbury 2014, xi + 212 pp (review)Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 98 (2): 234-237. 2016.Name der Zeitschrift: Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie Jahrgang: 98 Heft: 2 Seiten: 234-237.
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13The Model of Voting in Cicero’s Best StatePolis 40 (2): 304-328. 2023.In the proposed law-code in De legibus there is a law that votes are to be known by the best citizens (the optimates) but free to the common people (the plebs) (3.10). This law, Cicero claims, grants ‘the appearance of liberty’ (libertatis species), preserves the authority (auctoritas) of the optimates, and promotes harmony between the classes (3.39). The law and the precise meaning of libertatis species remain opaque even with the lengthy commentary (3.33–39), and much scholarly debate and disc…Read more
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12Epicureans on KingshipCambridge Classical Journal 56 178-198. 2010.Diogenes Laertius lists in his catalogue of Epicurus' works (10.28) a treatise On Kingship, which is unfortunately no longer extant. Owing to the Epicureans' antipathy to politics, such a work might be viewed with surprise and presumed to be virulently negative in outlook. Indeed, Plutarch reports that the Epicureans wrote on kingship only to ward people away from living in the company of kings(Adv. Col. 1127a) and that they maintained that to be king oneself was a terrible mistake (Adv. Col. 11…Read more
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12The problem of Aristippus at Cicero, De officiis 1.148Mnemosyne 76. 2023.The manuscripts of De officiis all record something strange at 1.148: Cicero says that the philosophers Socrates and Aristippus had exceptional licence to flout social custom and convention owing to their ‘great and divine good qualities’ (magna et divina bona). There are no worries about Socrates, but the example of Aristippus seems preposterous. This paper makes the following argument: (1) elsewhere Cicero defines divina bona in such a way to exclude hedonists; this should rule out crediting A…Read more
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11The Epicurean virtue of ΜΕΓΑΛΟΨΥΧΙΑClassical Philology 112 175-199. 2017.The virtue of μεγαλοψυχία or greatness of soul is prominent in the works of Aristotle as well as in the Peripatetic and Stoic traditions. However, mention of μεγαλοψυχία is extremely rare in our surviving evidence for the Epicurean school. In this paper I reconstruct a viable Epicurean position on μεγαλοψυχία. I argue that the Epicureans have a distinctive account of the virtue that is compatible with their hedonist ethics, and that can also be seen as a reaction to Aristotle. I also demonstrate…Read more
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11Troels Engberg-Pedersen, , From Stoicism to Platonism: The Development of Philosophy, 100 BCE-100 CE. Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 37 (5/6): 188-191. 2017.
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11Brad Inwood, ed. , Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Volumes 44 and 45 . Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 35 (2): 80-84. 2015.
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11Review of S. Maso (2022) Cicero's Philosophy (de Gruyter)' (review)Bryn Mawr Classical Review. 2022.
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9J. P. F. Wynne, "Cicero on the Philosophy of Religion: On the Nature of the Gods and On Divination." (review)Philosophy in Review 40 (4): 176-178. 2020.
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9Magnitudo animi and cosmic politics in Cicero's De re publicaClassical Journal 113 45-70. 2017.his paper offers a fresh interpretation of the role played by the Dream of Scipio in Cicero’s De re publica. It explores Cicero’s key distinction between the cosmic and the local levels of statesmanship and the problems he sees with localism, and it details fully for the first time the importance that Cicero attached to the virtue of magnitudo animi (“greatness of soul”). The paper makes the case that in De re publica Cicero promotes his own innovative cosmic model of politics, in which magnitud…Read more
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4Lucretius on the nature of parental loveAntichthon 52 72-89. 2018.This paper outlines the full details of Lucretius’ treatment of parental love. It shows that Lucretius is faithful to Epicurus’ notorious claim that parental love is not natural: in addition to orthodox Epicurean hedonist concerns, Lucretius asserts that children do not “belong to” their parents by nature; as such, even though parental love is now ubiquitous and indeed a cultural norm, there is no basis for the naturalness of parental love. This model of the relationship between parents and chil…Read more
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Areas of Specialization
Social and Political Philosophy |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
History of Western Philosophy |
Classics |