The concept of amicitia in the works of Cicero – Понятие amicitia в сочинениях Цицерона

Auteur: Bragova, Arina Mikhailovna
Titre: The concept of amicitia in the works of Cicero – Понятие amicitia в сочинениях Цицерона
Revue/Collection: Problems of History, Philology and Culture. Vyp. 1,
Annèe edition: 2016
Pages: 103-110
Mots-clès: Philosophie - Filosofia - Philosophy, Politique - Politica - Politics
Description: The ar­tic­le is de­vo­ted to the ana­ly­sis of Ci­ce­ro’s con­cept “friendship” (ami­ci­tia). The aut­hor of the ar­tic­le de­fi­nes the deg­ree of influen­ce that the Greek phi­lo­sop­hers had on Ci­ce­ro’s in­terpre­ta­tion of friendship. The ar­tic­le al­so deals with the ques­tion of ori­gi­na­li­ty of Ci­ce­ro’s rea­so­ning about friendship as well as the po­li­ti­cal con­no­ta­tion of the term ami­ci­tia. Ci­ce­ro cha­rac­te­ri­zes the true and per­fect friendship ba­sed not on pro­fit but on ag­ree­ment in af­fairs, be­ne­vo­len­ce and af­fec­tion. Friendship ori­gi­na­tes from na­tu­re and emer­ges due to goodwill. It is im­por­tant both in hap­pi­ness and in mis­for­tu­nes. Friendship is an in­teg­ral part of a de­cent and vir­tuo­us li­fe. Friendship is stron­ger than fa­mi­ly ties. On­ly ho­nest, vir­tuo­us, wise, ge­ne­rous, self-con­fi­dent, re­liab­le and so­ciab­le peop­le are wor­thy of friendship. Ci­ce­ro gi­ves examples of such peop­le among the Ro­man aris­toc­rats (Ca­to, Ti­be­rius Grac­chus the Ol­der, Pub­lius Sci­pio the Af­ri­can and ot­hers). Peop­le incli­ned to ex­ces­si­ve de­light and plea­su­res as well as flat­te­rers, scoundrels and bet­rayers are not wor­thy of friendship. Ci­ce­ro’s in­terpre­ta­tion of friendship is un­doub­ted­ly influen­ced by the Greek phi­lo­sop­hers (Soc­ra­tes, Pla­to, Aris­tot­le, Xe­no­phon, Po­ly­bius, Pe­ri­pa­te­tics and ot­hers). Ne­ver­the­less, he of­fers ori­gi­nal ideas. For example, he di­sag­rees with Aris­tot­le about peop­le who are incli­ned to friendship: Aris­tot­le con­si­ders weak peop­le to seek pro­tec­tion and help in friendship, whe­reas Ci­ce­ro’s true friendship is not ba­sed on pro­fit. The­re is al­so a dif­fe­ren­ce in their opi­nions con­cer­ning the kinds of friendship: Aris­tot­le re­cog­ni­zes three kinds of friendship (ba­sed on a vir­tue, uti­li­ty or plea­su­re), whi­le Ci­ce­ro ack­nowled­ges on­ly friendship ba­sed on a vir­tue. Be­si­des, Ci­ce­ro’s thoughts about friendship are im­bued with the Ro­man spi­rit: he gi­ves ma­ny examples about Ro­man ci­ti­zens and re­lies on his wide po­li­ti­cal ex­pe­rien­ce. It must be sta­ted that Ci­ce­ro’s term ‘friendship’ has a po­li­ti­cal con­no­ta­tion: he be­lie­ves that re­qui­re­ments of friendship should not contra­dict the sta­te’s in­te­rests, peop­le should not bet­ray the mo­ther­land for the sa­ke of a friend. To sum up, Ci­ce­ro’s term ‘friendship’ is a com­bi­na­tion of the an­cient Greek ideas about friendship, the so cal­led pu­re et­hics, and the Ro­man no­tions of ami­ci­tia, which ha­ve a po­li­ti­cal con­no­ta­tion [Author]. Text in russian [Russian bibliography]
Oeuvres:
Liens: https://ancientrome.ru/publik/article.htm?a=1511109134
Sigle auteur: Bragova 2016a