• La présente étude suggère que l’analyse aristotélicienne de la sōphrosunē dans l’ Éthique à Nicomaque II 7 et surtout III 13-15 (ou : III x-xii) gagne à être comprise sous l’angle de son héritage platonicien et, en particulier, de l’examen de la conception de la sōphrosunē comme « science de la science » défendue par Critias dans le Charmide et de la définition de la sōphrosunē en termes de tripartition de la cité et de l’âme dans la République. La première partie présente les objections soulevé…Read more
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    Le livre de Philodème La Colère
    Philosophie Antique 8 215-258. 2008.
    Depuis Homère, les penseurs de l’antiquité se sont intéressés à la nature, à l’usage et au contrôle de la colère. Cet article porte sur le plus ancien ouvrage sur le sujet qui ait survécu de l’antiquité jusqu’à nous, à savoir le traité Sur la Colère de Philodème, un important philosophe épicurien, actif en Italie du Sud au ier siècle av. J.-C. De façon générale, il s’agit dans cet article de présenter, du point de vue historique, sémantique et méthodologique, le contexte de l’analyse par Philodè…Read more
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    Cet article est ma contribution au débat sur la nature du moi idéal chez Platon ; débat commencé dans l’antiquité, mais qui se poursuit jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Les positions sont à peu près les suivantes. D’un côté, à la suite du platonicien Numénius, de nombreux interprètes (que j’appellerai universalistes) soutiennent que, puisque le moi chez Platon est un élément rationnel immatériel, ce ne peut être un moi personnel et individuel, mais il doit être impersonnel et universel. Dans cette perspecti…Read more
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    Les rêves chez les épicuriens
    with Joëlle Masson
    Cahiers Philosophiques 159 (4): 77-94. 2020.
    La plupart des philosophes de l’Antiquité pensent que les rêves ont des capacités prophétiques. Les seuls philosophes à s’écarter de cette tradition sont les épicuriens. Ils démystifient le phénomène du rêve en l’expliquant dans les termes de leur théorie physique matérialiste. Ils soulignent le lien entre le contenu du rêve et les activités diurnes, entre ce même contenu et la qualité d’âme du rêveur. Parce que l’identité de chacun persiste lorsqu’il rêve, les épicuriens attribuent à l’activité…Read more
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    The Epicurean Notion of epibolê
    Rhizomata 9 (2): 179-201. 2021.
    The surviving writings of Epicurus and his followers contain several references to epibolê – a puzzling notion that does not receive discussion in the extant Epicurean texts. There is no consensus about what epibolê is, what it is of, and what it operates on and, moreover, its epistemological status is controversial. This article aims to address these issues in both Epicurus and later Epicurean authors. Part One focuses mainly on Epicurus’ Letter to Herodotus, highlights a crucial distinction hi…Read more
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    Plato's Charmides: An Interpretative Commentary
    Cambridge University Press. 2022.
    The Charmides is a difficult and enigmatic dialogue traditionally considered one of Plato's Socratic dialogues. This book provides a close text commentary on the dialogue which tracks particular motifs throughout. These notably include the characterization of Critias, Charmides, and Socrates; the historical context and subtext, literary features such as irony and foreshadowing; the philosophical context and especially how the dialogue looks back to more traditional Socratic dialogues and forward…Read more
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    Epicurean Dreams
    Elenchos: Rivista di Studi Sul Pensiero Antico 39 (2): 231-256. 2018.
    Most ancient philosophers accept that dreams have prophetic powers enabling humans to relate somehow to a world beyond their own. The only philosophers known to make a clean and explicit break with that tradition are the Epicureans, beginning with Epicurus himself and reaching his last eminent follower, Diogenes of Oinoanda. They openly reject the idea that dreams mediate between the divine and the human realms, or between the world of the living and the world of the dead. They demystify the phe…Read more
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    Epicurean Preconceptions
    Phronesis 61 (2): 160-221. 2016.
    This paper provides a comprehensive study of the Epicurean theory of ‘preconception’. It addresses what a preconception is; how our preconception of the gods can be called innata, innate; the role played by epibolai ; and how preconceptions play a semantic role different from that of ‘sayables’ in Stoicism. The paper highlights the conceptual connections between these issues, and also shows how later Epicureans develop Epicurus’ doctrine of preconceptions while remaining orthodox about the core …Read more
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    The epistemology of the Cyrenaic school
    Cambridge University Press. 1998.
    The Cyrenaic school was a fourth-century BC philosophical movement, related both to the Socratic tradition and to Greek Scepticism. In ethics, Cyrenaic hedonism can be seen as one of many attempts made by the associates of Socrates and their followers to endorse his ethical outlook and to explore the implications of his method. In epistemology, there are close philosophical links between the Cyrenaics and the Sceptics, both Pyrrhonists and Academics. There are further links with modern philosoph…Read more
  • Philodemus: On Choices and Avoidances (edited book)
    with Giovanni Indelli
    Bibliopolis. 1995.
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    Philosophy and the Philosophic Life (review)
    Ancient Philosophy 15 (2): 626-631. 1995.
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    Philodemus, Seneca and Plutarch on anger
    In Jeffrey Fish & Kirk R. Sanders (eds.), Epicurus and the Epicurean tradition, Cambridge University Press. pp. 183-210. 2011.
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    Mimêsis and the Platonic Dialogue
    Rhizomata 1 (1): 1-29. 2013.
    : The Republic is notorious for its attack against poetry and the final eviction of the poets from the ideal city. In both Book III and Book X the argument focuses on the concept of mimêsis, frequently rendered as ‘imitation’, which is partly allowed in Book III but unqualifiedly rejected in Book X. However, several ancient authors view Plato’s dialogues as products of mimêsis and Plato as an imitator. Plato himself acknowledges the mimetic character of his enterprise and invites us to compare a…Read more
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    Doubts about other minds and the science of physiognomics
    Classical Quarterly 48 (01): 175-. 1998.
    Most ancient philosophers found access to the mental states of people other than the perceiver less problematic than the moderns did. But there is evidence, however scarce, that some groups of ancient sceptics raised questions which I shall call, for brevity's sake, doubts about other minds
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    Philodemus, On Property Management
    Society of Biblical Literature. 2012.
    Voula Tsouna provides a translation, extensive introduction, and notes on Philodemus' treatise "On Property Management." A fragmentary version of this treatise was recovered from the Epicurean library at Herculaneum, which was buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
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    Rationality and the Fear of Death in Epicurean Philosophy
    Rhizai. A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science 1 79-117. 2006.
    This paper outlines the Epicurean conception of rationality and then tries to assess the merits of the notorious contention of the Epicurean philosophers that it is irrationalto fear death. At the outset, I talk about the nature of harmful emotions or passions, of which the fear of death is an outstanding example: their dependence on one‘s disposition, their cognitive and non-cognitive components, the ways in which these elements may be related to each other, and the healthy counterparts of the …Read more
  • James Warren, Facing Death. Epicurus and his Critics (review)
    Rhizai. A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science 1 195-202. 2007.
    A review of James Warren, Facing Death. Epicurus and his Critics, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 2004
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    The Ethics of Philodemus
    Oxford University Press. 2007.
    Voula Tsouna presents a comprehensive study of the ethics of the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, who taught Virgil, influenced Horace, and was praised by Cicero. His works have only recently become available to modern readers, through the decipherment of a papyrus carbonized by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Tsouna examines Philodemus's theoretical principles in ethics, his contributions to moral psychology, his method, his conception of therapy, and his therapeutic techniques. The Ethics …Read more
  • Philodemus on the Therapy of Vice
    Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 21 233-258. 2001.
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    Epicurean therapeutic strategies
    In James Warren (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism, Cambridge University Press. pp. 249-265. 2009.