Greco-roman ethics and the naturalistic fantasy

Brooke Holmes

doi:10.1086/678172

Greco-roman ethics and the naturalistic fantasy

Brooke Holmes

Classics

Princeton University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

To modern scholars, the naturalistic fallacy looks out of place in Greco-Roman antiquity owing to the robust associations between nature, especially human nature, and moral norms. Yet nature was understood by ancient authors not only as a norm but also as a form of necessity. The Greco-Roman philosophical schools grappled with how to reconcile the idea that human nature is given with the idea that it is a goal to be reached. This essay looks at the Stoic concept of oikeiosis as one strategy for effecting such a reconciliation. Drawing on natural history, these Stoic sources used examples of animal behavior to illustrate a process whereby nature "entrusts" all animals, including humans, with the care of their own survival. Nature is thus both what is given to the animal and what the animal achieves in a powerful but also problematic synthesis here called the "naturalistic fantasy.".

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	569-578
Number of pages	10
Journal	Isis
Volume	105
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/678172
State	Published - Sep 1 2014

ASJC Scopus subject areas

History
History and Philosophy of Science
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)

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10.1086/678172

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Greco-roman ethics and the naturalistic fantasy

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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