De Ira

De Ira (On Anger) is a Latin work by Seneca (4 BC–65 AD [1]). The work offers advice on controlling anger and to make it subject to reason.

Background

It is not clear to scholars who wrote the first work on the subject of passions or emotions (the terms are thought interchangeable), but while Xenocrates (396/5–314/3 BCE) and Aristotle (384–322 BCE) were students at Plato's Academy, a discussion on emotions took place which provided likely the impetus for all later work on the subject. The Stoic Posidonius of Apamea (c.135 - 51 BCE [2]) is considered the main source for Seneca, also the work of Theophrastus, Antipater of Tarsus, Philodemus of Gadara, Sotion of Alexandria, Xenocrates (active sometime after 346 BCE [3]) and Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE [4]).[2][5][6] Other influences may have included works On Passions by the Stoic philosophers Zeno of Citium, Chrysippus, Aristo of Chios, Herillus, Hecato of Rhodes, and the Peripatetic philosopher Andronicus of Rhodes (c. 1st century B.C.[7]).[6] Works of a similar nature were also written by both Philodemus of Gadara (ca. 110–30 BCE), an Epicurean, and Bion the Cynic from Borysthenes, (fl early 3rd century BC).[8][9][10]

Dating

The exact date of the writing of the work is unknown, apart from a date being the earliest possible time (terminum post quem), deduced as due to repeated references by Seneca to the episodic anger of the Caesar, Gaius (Caligula), who died 24 January 41 AD.[6][11][12]

Title and contents

Ira is defined as anger, wrath, rage, ire, passion, indignation - primarily, to be angry (see Lewis & Short in reference).[13]

De Ira consists of three books.[12] It is part of Seneca's series of Dialogi (dialogues). The essay is addressed to Seneca's elder brother, Lucius Annaeus Novatus.[14][15][16] The works first sentence reads:[6]

You have asked me Novatus to write on how anger can be mitigated

Themes

Within the context of Stoicism, which seeks to aid and guide the person in a development out of a life of slavery to behaviours and ways of the vices, to freedom within a life characterised by virtue, de Ira posits this as achievable by the development of an understanding of how to control the passions, anger being classified as a passion, and to make these subject to reason.[17][18]

Seneca's thoughts of the relationship of the passions to reason, are that the passions arise in a rational mind as a result of a mis-perceiving or misunderstanding of reality. Inwood describes this as when the mind makes errors about the values of things , R Bett as caused by defective belief (c.f. Bett p. 546). Seneca denied the assertion of Plato and Aristotle who previously considered the passions to arise from roots within the irrational part of the soul.[19]

The passions are transliterated pathê from Greek.[20][21]

Later history

The work survives due to being a part of the codex Ambrosian manuscript, dating from the 5th century A.D.[22][23][24][25]

Contemporaneous manifestations of the considerations of de Ira

The National Health Service of Great Britain provides a guide on anger management.[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ M. Griffin & B. Inwood (translators) (2011). de Beneficiis by Lucius Annaeus Seneca. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226748405. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
  2. 1 2 Israel Institute of the History of Medicine. Koroth. BRILL. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  3. ↑ R M. Lawson (2004). Science in the Ancient World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1851095349. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  4. ↑ R M. Lawson (2004). Science in the Ancient World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 20. ISBN 1851095349. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  5. ↑ JT Fitzgerald referencing - Fortenbough 1975 (quote), Knuuttila & Sihvola 1998, Blank 1993, Diogenes Laertius 4.6. (2007). Passions and Morals: Progress in Graeco-Roman thought (PDF). Taylor & Francis e-library, Routledge. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  6. 1 2 3 4 M Monteleone (2013). Companion to Seneca: Philosopher and Dramatist. BRILL. pp. 127, 131, 132. ISBN 9004217088. Retrieved 2015-03-15.Brill's Companions in Classical Studies
  7. ↑ GE Karamonolis (2006). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. Psychology Press. p. 432. ISBN 0415973341. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  8. ↑ JI Porter (edited by R. Bracht Branham, Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé) (2000). The Philosophy of Aristo of Chios (in) The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy - Hellenistic culture and society. University of California Press. ISBN 0520216458. Retrieved 2015-03-15.(ed.... from Borysthenes (fl early 3rd century BC)...)
  9. ↑ D. Blank (2013). Philodemus. Stanford University. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  10. ↑ K Galinsky (1988). The Anger of Aeneas. American Journal of Philology (JSTOR). JSTOR 294888.(please see: The principal extant Epicurean text is Philodemus' De Ira.... shown here)
  11. ↑ Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford University Press) [Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  12. 1 2 C Stark. The Self-Divided Dialogical Self in Seneca's De Ira. (Society for Classical Studies). Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  13. ↑ Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University : Latin Word Study Tools - ira [Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  14. ↑ J Sellars - Stoicism (Routledge, 5 Dec 2014) ISBN 1317493915 [Retrieved 2015-3-16]
  15. ↑ Cambridge University Press - Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought shows Moral Essays [Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  16. ↑ JM. Cooper - Seneca: Moral and Political Essays - Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (p.3) (Cambridge University Press, 22 Jun 1995) ISBN 0521348188 [Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  17. ↑ R Bett - A Companion to Ancient Philosophy (John Wiley & Sons, 9 Feb 2009) ISBN 1405178256 [Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  18. ↑ B.Inwood - Passions and Perceptions: Studies in Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind (p.165 & 166) (Cambridge University Press, 25 Mar 1993) ISBN 0521402026 [Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  19. ↑ B.Inwood - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Index (Taylor & Francis, 1 Jan 1998) ISBN 0415073103 [Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  20. ↑ Blank, David - "Philodemus"-2.2.4.4.2 On individual ethical topics (5th paragraph) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)(published Wed Apr 10, 2013; substantive revision Mon Aug 4, 2014) [Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  21. ↑ Oxford Dictionary - (Oxford University Press)[Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  22. ↑ L.D.Reynolds, M.T.Griffin, E.Fantham. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 29 Mar 2012 (edited by S Hornblower, A Spawforth, E Eidinow) ISBN 0199545561. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  23. ↑ Fritz-Heiner Mutschler in Brill's Companion to Seneca: Philosopher and Dramatist [Retrieved 2015-3-14]
  24. ↑ Merriam-Webster [Retrieved 2015-3-15]
  25. ↑ C Boyd-Taylor in Thirteenth Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Ljubljana, 2007 (International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies. Congress) Society of Biblical Lit, 2008 ISBN 1589833953 [Retrieved 2015-3-14]
  26. ↑ NHS choices - How to control your anger [Retrieved 2015-3-16]
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