Transforming Justice

The Stoic Theory of Beauty

“…James Porter, for instance, has astutely criticised both Kristeller's premises and conclusions. 13 Stephen Halliwell has not only criticised Kristeller's argument itself, 14 but has also argued that the ideas of Plato and Aristotle are both relevant to the preoccupations of modern philosophers and address the foundational questions of aesthetics and philosophy of art. 15 As Anastasia-Erasmia Peponi has argued, despite the fact that in the eighteenth century aesthetics was conceived of as a discipline that investigates the fine arts, it does not follow that 'aesthetic' cannot be applied to historic material.…”

“…12 This is due to the fact that the lack of certain external goods constitutes an impediment to happiness while happiness consists in complete and unobstructed activities. 13 Aristotle's position is motivated by reasoning that the lack of certain goods impedes the disadvantaged person's ability to exercise the actions that would, in ideal circumstances, constitute happiness. Those who deny this, for one reason or another, are talking nonsense, according to the arguments in the Nicomachean Ethics.…”

“…That the term τὸ καλόν has an aesthetic aspect can be concluded for the following reasons. 13 The most appropriate starting point for investigating whether a term has an aesthetic dimension or not would be to define what it is that we are looking for, that is, what 'aesthetic' refers to. There is, however, a risk of anachronism in adopting such an approach.…”

“…The claims about the goods that only the wise man has are many and various. Only the wise man, for instance, is said to be free, 12 happy 13 and beautiful. 14 Cicero's Stoic Paradoxes is an important source in this case because it contains not only the paradoxes but also lengthy explanations of why the Stoics made these claims.…”

“…12 In fact, the early Christian thinkers, genuine creationists, emphasise the difference between their own views of genesis and the account of world-generation proposed by Greek philosophers. 13 The presence of matter means the world creation is not truly ab initio, since there is another primal element involved. It makes god not the sole creator, but only a partner in creation.…”