Lectures on the Philosophy and Politics of Cicero

The Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero is one of the most important intellectual voices of antiquity and the classical tradition of the Great Books. A “new man” who rose from the Roman middleclass to become a leading senator and “savior of the republic,” Cicero was noted for his infusion of Greek philosophy into Roman legal and political thinking as well as his heroic stand against the descent into totalitarianism during the final decades of the Roman Republic. He was also a major influence on the formation of Christianity through Saint Augustine who famously credited Cicero as sparking his love of philosophy that set him on the pathway to God despite the significant theological differences between the two. In this series of online lectures, I cover the philosophy and politics of Cicero from his De re public (The Republic or On the Commonwealth), The Laws, and On Obligations (De Officiis).

LECTURE ONE: HUMAN NATURE (DE RE PUBLICA)