Cicero ─ The Philosophy of a Roman Sceptic

In bringing for the first time to a Latin audience the ideas of Stoics, Epicureans and other schools and figures of the post-Aristotelian period, Cicero's philosophical works have had an incalculable influence on the transmission of those ideas through later history. Raphael Woolf describes and evaluates Cicero's philosophical achievement, paying particular attention to his relation to the philosophers he draws upon in compiling his works; his Romanizing of Greek philosophy; and his own sceptical and dialectical outlook. While Cicero's value as documentary evidence for the Hellenistic schools is unquestioned, the book explores his writings as works of philosophy that do more than simply synthesize the thought of others but offer a unique viewpoint of their own. The book aims, using the best tools of philosophical, philological and historical analysis, to do Cicero justice as a distinctive philosophical voice.

Raphael Woolf is Reader in Philosophy at King's College London. His work focuses on ancient philosophy and he has published on Plato, Aristotle and Hellenistic philosophy.