The Structured Self in Hellenistic and Roman Thought

The Structured Self in Hellenistic and Roman Thought offers a new analysis of what is innovative and distinctive in Hellenistic conceptions of self and personality, particularly in Stoic and Epicurean philosophy. A shared, or converging, Stoic-Epicurean pattern of thinking is identified ('the structured self'). This consists in a striking combination of holism and naturalism with certain key 'Socratic' ethical claims. Human beings are seen both as psychophysical and psychological wholes and as constitutively capable of achieving a fully structured and coherent ethical character. However, failure to develop this natural capacity brings about a radically unstructured and incoherent state of personality. This Stoic-Epicurean conception is characterized by contrast with a picture of human beings as a combination of quasi-independent psychic parts or as an essential core (mind/reason) and other elements; this picture is found elsewhere in Hellenistic-Roman thought, especially Middle Platonism. Christopher Gill explores the complex relationship between Stoic and Epicurean thinking and earlier Greek thought about personality, including the selective adoption and rejection of fourth-century ideas. His general analysis of Hellenistic thinking about personality is illustrated by a detailed study of the Stoic theory of the passions and a new account of its relationship to Platonic thought.

The latter part of the book tackles theoretical issues about selfhood and examines the relationship of philosophy to literature. Gill argues against the claim sometimes made that Hellenistic-Roman thought exhibits a shift towards a subjective-individualistic view of selfhood. The analysis ofStoic-Epicurean ideas about the structured (and unstructured) self and the contrast with Middle Platonic thinking provides a basis for interpreting the collapse of character in Hellenistic-Roman literature-notably in Plutarch's Lives, Senecan tragedy, and Virgil's Aeneid. All Greek and Latin is translated, making the book's original insights into Hellenistic and Roman thought about personality accessible to a wide range of readers.

Christopher Gill offers a new analysis of what is innovative in Hellenistic - especially Stoic and Epicurean - philosophical thinking about selfhood and personality. His wide-ranging discussion of Stoic and Epicurean ideas is illustrated by a more detailed examination of the Stoic theory of the passions and a new account of the history of this theory. His study also tackles issues about the historical study of selfhood and the relationship between philosophy and literature, especially the presentation of the collapse of character in Plutarch's Lives, Senecan tragedy, and Virgil's Aeneid. As all Greek and Latin is translated, this book presents original ideas about ancient concepts of personality to a wide range of readers.

Christopher Gill is Professor of Ancient Thought at the University of Exeter.