Epilogue: Philosophical Debate and Normative Theory
This short epilogue explores a tension in Cicero between a conception of philosophy as in its very nature a debate, and the idea that the point of doing philosophy is to find and advocate a sound theoretical basis for living our lives. It focuses first on a passage in On laws, where the need for an ethical principle that philosophers might agree sufficient, if accepted, to ‘put res publicae on a firm footing’, is taken to require the silencing of debate and sceptical doubt. On the commonwealth, however, had staged a full-throttled debate on justice. The contrast suggests not a disjunction between philosophy and politics, but between purely theoretical discussion of fundamental ethical and political questions and the requirements of viable guidance on policy and practice in these spheres.