Seneca’s Ethics Viewed from a Modern Standpoint

Abstract

Wolfgang Yourgrau’s interest comprised many fields. It was strong in physics, philosophy of science, and history of science and included the urge to understand nonscientific disciplines in general scientific terms. This was clear in numerous stimulating conversations between him and the present author. In his article published in Vistas of Physical Reality (E. Laszlo and E. B. Sellon, editors, Plenum Press, New York, 1976), entitled “Some Reflections on Philosophy of Science,” he offers and advances a pluralistic approach to philosophy of science, suggesting that no single epistemology can support all subjects, not even all sciences. Nevertheless he tended to dismiss purported disciplines which reject the scientific spirit. Recalling this, and aware of his general interest in history, I offer for Yourgrau’s Memorial Volume a paper which interested him and which might exemplify a quasiscientific approach to a subject which appears rudderless without some relevance to science. It was presented in Cordoba, Spain, on the nineteen hundredth anniversary of Seneca’s birth and published in a volume in his honor entitled Actas Del Congreso International De Filsofia in 1967.