Tusculanae Quaestiones

The Tusculanae Quaestiones, also known as the Tusculan Disputations, is a series of books written by Cicero, around 45 BC, [King, J., "Tusculan Disputations: Introduction". Loeb Classical Library. (1927).] attempting to popularise philosophy in Ancient Rome. It is so called as it was reportedly written at his home in Tusculum. The positions argued by Cicero in his books are related to the philosophy of Stoicism.

The "Tusculanae Quaestiones" consists of five books:

# "On the contempt of death"
# "On bearing pain"
# "On grief of mind"
# "On other perturbations of the mind"
# "Whether virtue alone be sufficient for a happy life"

In this book there is an early rendering of the legend of the Sword of Damocles. There is also a disapproving note that Amafinius was one of the first Latin writers in Rome.

In a recent study Bernhard Koch has shown that Cicero aims at a therapy of emotions based on academic (sceptic) foundations but worked out by stoic thesis (Bernhard Koch, Philosophie als Medizin fuer die Seele. Untersuchungen zu den Tusculanae Disputationes, Stuttgart 2006).

Notes

References

* [http://www.iep.utm.edu/c/cicero.htm Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry]

External links

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14988/14988-h/14988-h.htm e-book] at Project Gutenberg