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?
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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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- The Riddle of the Great-souled eiron. Virtue, Deception and Democracy in the Nicomachean Ethics
- Le problème de la compréhension de la dualité de la téléologie d’Aristote comme « but » et « bénéficiaire »
- Providence et passions divines dans le stoïcisme : comment prémunir un dieu bienveillant contre la colère ?
- Zwei Prinzipienlehren aber nur ein Prinzip. Eudoros von Alexandrien und (neu-)pythagoreische Henologie
- Galen on the Stoic-Peripatetic Controversy about Mixtures: Qualities or Bodies?
- Plotinus on the Daemon as the Soul’s Erotic Disposition towards the Good
- Stoici e Peripatetici su agire, patire e movimento: la testimonianza di Simplicio
- Reviews
- Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini (CPF) (2019) e (2021): Testi e lessico nei papiri di cultura greca e latina. Parte II.1* e Parte II.1**. Frammenti adespoti
- Lorenzo Giovannetti: Eidos and Dynamis: The Intertwinement of Being and Logos in Plato’s Thought
- Christelle Veillard: Hécaton de Rhodes. Les Fragments
- Maria Carmen De Vita (a c. di): Giuliano Imperatore. Lettere e Discorsi
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- The Riddle of the Great-souled eiron. Virtue, Deception and Democracy in the Nicomachean Ethics
- Le problème de la compréhension de la dualité de la téléologie d’Aristote comme « but » et « bénéficiaire »
- Providence et passions divines dans le stoïcisme : comment prémunir un dieu bienveillant contre la colère ?
- Zwei Prinzipienlehren aber nur ein Prinzip. Eudoros von Alexandrien und (neu-)pythagoreische Henologie
- Galen on the Stoic-Peripatetic Controversy about Mixtures: Qualities or Bodies?
- Plotinus on the Daemon as the Soul’s Erotic Disposition towards the Good
- Stoici e Peripatetici su agire, patire e movimento: la testimonianza di Simplicio
- Reviews
- Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini (CPF) (2019) e (2021): Testi e lessico nei papiri di cultura greca e latina. Parte II.1* e Parte II.1**. Frammenti adespoti
- Lorenzo Giovannetti: Eidos and Dynamis: The Intertwinement of Being and Logos in Plato’s Thought
- Christelle Veillard: Hécaton de Rhodes. Les Fragments
- Maria Carmen De Vita (a c. di): Giuliano Imperatore. Lettere e Discorsi