The persuasiveness of assertibles and arguments in Ancient Stoicism

Authors

  • Aldo Dinucci Archai - Federal University of Sergipe, Brasil
  • Kelli Rudolph University of Kent (UK)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_32_29

Keywords:

Persuasiviness, Stoicism, Hellenism

Abstract

In the first part, we survey the occurrences of pithanon (‘persuasive’) and related terms in texts and fragments of Ancient Stoicism referring to the persuasiveness of assertibles and arguments, and fragments in which the Stoic logic is presented as the tool to avoid the persuasiveness of sophisms and the Stoic sage as the one who can efface this persuasiveness by his expertise in dialectics. Once it is done, we consider critically the assessments of Chiaradona, Sedley and Tieleman, for whom Chrysippus is interested in extra-logical forms of discourse, and also another thesis from Tieleman, according to which Chrysippus uses persuasive premises for constructive purposes. In our conclusions, we discard the thesis concerning Chrysippus' recognition of extra-logical truths, on the basis of the Stoic ideal of the sage. We conclude that, in Stoicism, (1) pithanon refers primarily to false assertibles, arguments and presentations and (2) the Stoic sage cannot be persuaded, but he can persuade his students in order to prepare their souls to receive the Stoic doctrines.

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Author Biographies

Aldo Dinucci, Archai - Federal University of Sergipe, Brasil

Researcher in productivity (CNPq). Honorary researcher at the University of Kent (UK),
Aldo Lopes Dinucci holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the State University of
Rio de Janeiro (1992-1996), a master's and a doctorate in philosophy
from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (1996-2002)
under the supervision of Dr. Maura Iglesias.

He teaches, since 2003, at the Federal University of Sergipe, located in the northeast region of Brazil, developing intense research work on Epictetus in particular and Stoicism in general.

He did four post-docs: the first, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, between 2014 and 2015, under the supervision of Dr. Fernando Santoro; the second, at the University of Kent, England, under the supervision of Dr. Karla Poolman; the third, at the University of Brasília, in 2016, the supervision of Dr. Gabriele Cornelli; and the fourth, between 2019 and 2020, at the University of Kent, England, the supervision of Dr. Kelli Rudolph.


Kelli Rudolph, University of Kent (UK)

Dr Kelli Rudolph studied Classics at Princeton, where she received her BA in 2002, and at Cambridge where she was awarded an MPhil in 2003. After a year at Columbia University, she returned to Cambridge where she completed a PhD on ancient atomism in 2009. 

Before joining the Classical and Archaeological Studies Department at the University of Kent, Kelli was an Assistant Professor at Grand Valley State University and concurrently held a postdoctoral research fellowship at Oxford University.

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Published

2022-10-17

How to Cite

Dinucci, A., & Rudolph, K. (2022). The persuasiveness of assertibles and arguments in Ancient Stoicism. Revista Archai, (32), e03229. https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_32_29

Issue

No. 32 (2022): Archai 32 (2022)

Section

Articles

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