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Providence et passions divines dans le stoïcisme : comment prémunir un dieu bienveillant contre la colère ?

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Published/Copyright: November 21, 2023
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Abstract

Against the Epicureans who conceive the gods as indifferent to make them inaccessible to anger, the Stoics assert that the god is incapable of anger due to his very benevolence. However, doesn’t the Stoic god’s concern for man threaten his impassivity and expose him to feel anger and passions? In this paper, I address, in a theological context, the classic ethical problem of the compatibility between the integrity of the individual and his concern for others. Several hypotheses are examined. Is divine benevolence merely a disposition to do good to human beings, devoid of any affection for them? If it is a feeling, is it an aspiration to the very exercise of the virtue of benevolence, rather than to the good of mankind in itself? Or could it be understood, in the context of the cosmic οἰκείωσις, as the god’s care for his own parts? Finally, should not we distinguish, in god’s philanthropy, between the φιλία he feels for the wise men and the ἔρως he feels for everyone else?


Corresponding author: Rodolphe Le Penru, STL-UMR 8163, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France, E-mail:

Remerciements

Je remercie Thomas Bénatouïl, mon directeur de thèse, pour sa disponibilité et l’exigence de ses remarques. Une première version de cet article a fait l’objet d’une présentation le 5 juin 2019 à l’Université de Lille lors d’une journée d’étude intitulée “Religion traditionnelle et religion philosophique à l’époque hellénistique et impériale”, coorganisée par Giulia Scalas et moi-même : je remercie l’ensemble des intervenants pour les riches échanges que nous avions eus. Je remercie enfin les deux lecteurs anonymes pour leurs remarques très utiles.

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Published Online: 2023-11-21
Published in Print: 2023-12-15

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