The Path of Passion in Seneca’s Phaedra

Authors:

Pages: 94-117

Abstract:

In this paper I try to understand Phaedra in its own terms but not as a literary critic. Starting from what Staley rightly confirms, that for the Stoics tragedy was not a form antithetical to philosophy,1 I argue that philosophical concepts, such as passion, can be examined separately and ad hoc in each Senecan tragedy. This seems the only reliable method to distinguish whether they are employed as stoic concepts or not, despite Hine’s thesis that instead it should be shown that these concepts are more Stoic than Epicurean, Peripatetic, or anything else. In my view, Phaedra stands out as a unique demonstration of how Seneca comprehends passion in the form of love or desire.

Keywords:

stoicism, virtue, vice, eudemonia, pananthropic phenomenon

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