John Schafer
Ars Didactica
Seneca’s 94th and 95th Letters
1. Auflage 2009
125 Seiten gebunden
ISBN 978-3-525-25291-8
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Hypomnemata - Band 181
zzgl. Versand
Buch
Letters 94 and 95 of Seneca’s Epistulae Morales introduce and discuss a distinction between individual moral instructions or praecepta and the doctrines of Stoic moral philosophy or decreta. According to Seneca, some people reject the teaching of decreta, preferring non-doctrinal methods of moral instruction, while Aristo of Chios, the heterodox Stoic, rejects praecepta in favor of decreta alone. Seneca charts a middle course between these positions, defending praecepta (in 94) and decreta (in 95) against their respective opponents.
Schafer argues against interpretations which see praecepta as »rules« which a Stoic agent follows, in conjunction with decreta or »principles« in moral deliberation. He shows both that the text does not answer to the concerns which an account of Stoic deliberation must address, and that Seneca’s praecepta could not be the rules which structure that deliberation, if such rules exist.
Instead, the two letters are a treatise on method in moral education: praecepta amount to something like »non-technical instructions« in general, and decreta to technical, doctrinal teachings. Schafer argues that letters 94 and 95 are a defense of the didactic method which Seneca employs in the instruction of Lucilius, the recipient of the Epistulae, and that these two letters and the series as a whole are best understood in the light of each other. On this reading, Seneca defends (in 94 and 95) and portrays (in the Epistulae as a whole) the following vision of philosophical didaxis: initially, precept-giving, aided by the authority and respect accorded to the teacher, helps to overcome the student’s initial moral frailties; then, increasing understanding of decreta and their justifications provides complete intellectual assurance and moral autonomy.
