Introduction. The article is devoted to the study of the relationship and mutual influence of theological, anthropological, ethical views of Roman Stoicism and Christianity. The purpose of this work is to conduct a comparative analysis of late Stoic and Christian theology, anthropology, ethics and to demonstrate their relationship and relevance in the modern era. Materials and methods. The research material was the works of Plato and the Roman Stoics, the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, the writings of authors of the early Christian era and early Protestantism, modern scientific research, domestic and foreign, devoted to the analysis of the views of the Roman Stoics, the first Christians, the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, representatives of the Eastern and Western Christian churches of the Middle Ages; works, analyzing the interpenetration of Stoicism and Christianity. The author relied on the civilizational and dialectical approaches, used the following methods: narrative, hermeneutic in combination with linguistic, analytical, synthetic, generalization, reconstruction, comparative-historical. Results. As a result of the work done, it was established that the basic theological, anthropological, axiological and ethical ideas of the Roman Stoics and Christians (the essence of man, the path of life and existential meanings, eschatological perspective, moral principles) were formed as a result of mutual influence. Stoicism played a huge role in the formation of Christian doctrine, actively influenced the ascetic fathers of the early Christian Eastern Church and medieval Western Christianity, and the young Protestantism of the 16th century. The Stoics, in turn, relied on Christian wisdom in their philosophy. Discussion and conclusions. The author managed to carry out a comparative analysis of Stoic and Christian doctrines. The study showed that the spiritual kinship and mutual influence of Roman Stoicism and Christianity testifies to the illusory nature of the border separating the Hellenistic and Christian metatraditions. The practice of cognitive therapy aimed at finding existential meanings and inner harmony, developed by the Roman Stoics and the ascetic fathers of the Eastern Christian Church; the eternal ethical principles of Stoicism and Christianity are relevant in the modern era of moral degradation and semantic disorientation.

The article is devoted to an interdisciplinary analysis of the transformation of Roman law in the transitional period from the Republic to the Empire through the category of the megalopolis as a special legal-architectural and cultural phenomenon. It is shown that Roman law during this period acted not only as a conservative regulator ensuring the stability of the political-legal order, but also as a technology of institutional engineering creating conditions for the release of the creative potential of society. Based on the philosophical and legal heritage of the Roman Stoics (Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Cicero), modern studies in the field of legal history, neurobiology and the theory of creativity, as well as on the example of Francis Ford Coppola’s feature film Megalopolis (2024), the image of the megalopolis is reconstructed as a model of a legal environment in which the law does not suppress, but structures and protects the creative activity of passionary individuals. The thesis is substantiated that the fluctuations of law in the era of the crisis of the Roman Republic became a condition for the creative bifurcation of the state system, opening the way to a new imperial configuration capable of integrating diverse cultural codes and architectural practices. Comparison of the Roman experience with examples of legal modernization in Singapore and the UAE makes it possible to conclude that an effective legal environment is a necessary condition for the formation of a megalopolis as a space of innovative development, where the protection of private property, contractual freedom and personal autonomy becomes a key resource of humanistic progress.

This essay concludes a personal investigation, undertaken in two previous works, concerning certain similarities between Seneca and Thomas More, and instances where the influence of the Roman Stoic can be found in the works of the great English humanist. I shall focus, in particular, on the extraordinary skill Seneca and More both display in delving into the human soul and his psychology. With this last endeavor, in which I have allowed myself a slight flight of fancy, I hope to interest not just the scholar, but even the common reader.

The article addresses the issues of values in ancient philosophy. The aim of the study is to analyze and reflect on the views of ancient philosophers on values and to examine their influence on the development of moral philosophy. The following approaches and research methods were used: the historical-philosophical approach – to study the views of ancient philosophers on values in the context of their time; the comparative approach – to compare the views of different philosophers on values; and the analytical approach – to logically analyze key concepts such as the Good, virtue, happiness, justice, etc. It has been established that in the history of European philosophy, the concept of “values,” as an embodiment of the term “the Good” (that which brings benefit), originates in ancient philosophy. Various approaches to understanding values that existed in ancient philosophy are characterized. It is noted that Seneca’s views on values combined key Stoic principles such as virtue and self-control; Plato regarded the Good as the highest value and the goal of human life, linking it to justice both at the individual and societal levels; for Aristotle, the highest value and the goal of human life was happiness, which a person strives for through their actions and moral deeds. It is emphasized that, unlike the Pre-Socratics, who focused on studying the natural world and cosmological questions, the philosophers of classical Greece turned their attention to society and the state, considering that a rational (just, ideal) state is the key to personal well-being. It is demonstrated that questions about the place of a person in the world, their path, the essence of good and evil, and moral guidelines unite Greek and Roman Stoics with the existentialist philosophers of the 20th century. The theoretical significance of the study lies in its ability to analyze the origins of fundamental philosophical categories – Good, virtue, justice, and happiness – and trace their influence on the further development of philosophy. The practical significance lies in the fact that the research materials can be included in lecture courses, allowing students to better understand the origins of modern ethical and moral principles. A promising direction for further research is considered to be the comparison of ancient and modern concepts of values. The article belongs to the theoretical type.

Philosophy as Pedagogy in the late Roman Stoicism

Introduction. The article is devoted to the study of the anthropological attitudes of Marcus Aurelius, formed as a result of the mutual influence of Roman Stoicism and early Christianity. The purpose of this work is to conduct a comparative analysis of the late Stoic and Christian axiology, ethics and demonstrate their relevance in the modern era of postmodernist value disorientation.Materials and Methods. The material of the study is the writings of Marcus Aurelius, the New Testament canonical epistles, the works of Christian apologists of the first centuries, as well as the works of contemporary domestic and foreign authors devoted to the spiritual situation in the Roman Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the moral foundations of Roman stoicism; anthropological, ethical ideas of the ancient philosopher associated with Christian thought; the views of early Christian authors on the worldview of the emperor and Roman stoicism. The author relied on civilizational and dialectical approaches, used methods: hermeneutic, analytical, synthesis, generalization, reconstruction of philosophical views, comparative historical.Results. As a result of the work done, it was found that the essentially Christian anthropological, axiological ideas of Marcus Aurelius (the essence of man, his path in history and posthumous fate, ethical constants) were formed as a result of a bilateral influence: stoicism on the formation of Christian doctrine in the I-II centuries, Christianity - on the worldview of the thinker. Being a persecutor of Christians, the philosopher on the throne unconsciously embodied the goals pursued by the young religion.Discussion and Conclusions. The author managed to carry out a comparative analysis of the anthropology, ethics and axiology of Marcus Aurelius and early Christianity. The study convincingly showed that the demarcation between ancient pagan antiquity and medieval Christianity accepted in philosophical science is conditional. The chronological definition of these historical periods is also conditional. This interpenetration of eras is confirmed by the enormous influence of Roman stoicism on the formation of Christian apologetics, as well as the anthropological, ethical and axiological attitudes of the Roman Stoic Marcus Aurelius congenial to Christianity.

The idea that learning liberates or that education emancipates is hardly a novelty, and it can be traced to ancient times and Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. Thus, in this paper, we aim to express that some of the ideas (like the idea that women and men are equally subject to moral virtue because of their rationality) and educational practices (such as those that encourage students to use their voices and reason independently from any authorities) embraced by well-known Roman Stoics did have emancipatory potential. Particularly important was a requirement that philosophy should be lived outside the classrooms.

The scope of the study is the Stoics’ and Stoic philosophy’s images in the influential theological-philosophical journal "Faith and Reason". Its materials constituted a significant part of the philosophical articles on the Stoics in the late 19th-early 20th century Russia. Due to confessional bias and peculiarities of the intellectual debates of that time, the journal's authors did not limit themselves to historical-philosophical or theological studies of Stoic philosophy. "Faith and Reason" attempted to unfold a multidimensional critical narrative of desperate Stoic mood, the religious wickedness of the Stoics, and the cold spirit of their morals, contrasting the personal wisdom of the Roman Stoics with their school affiliation. It is suggested that the Stoic narrative offered in the journal was intended to exert an edifying influence on its audience, to demonstrate the perverse nature of Stoic teachings as well as their incompatibility with the truth of Christianity.

This article analyzes the way in which hospitable reception or deliberate hostility were figured in three works by Seneca, a Roman Stoic philosopher of the 1st century AD. It is an important topic, capable of revealing social elements and political orientations expected of a good princeps. We propose the study of a Menippean satire against Emperor Claudius; a philosophical treatise on the virtue of clemency; and a mythological tragedy involving Thyestes and Atreus, descendants of Tantalus. Regardless of the discursive genre, there is an orderly appeal according to the precepts of Stoicism, so that the absence of hospitality can represent the insanity of a tyrant; the impropriety of an apotheosis; a reproach against vice.

Reiner Schurmann’s Broken Hegemonies is a philosophical approach to how humans have historically created a rhetorical framework of ideas to operate in their existence. For this article, I will discuss Schurmann’s text, specifically his Hegemonic Fantasms of Nature and Modern Consciousness (as well as the associated concepts of the tragic condition and tragic denial) in order to understand Wolfgang Beltracchi as a skilled albeit complicated artist, researcher and art forger. Beltracchi operates within the Hegemonic Fantasm of Nature as the law (per Marcus Tullius Cicero and Marcus Aurelius) as well as with nature as the destitution of the hegemonic construct of nature (per Meister Eckhart) and the Hegemonic Fantasm of Modern Consciousness of the subject ‘self’ (per Luther and Kant), as well as the diremption of hegemonic concepts (per Martin Heidegger). I will further discuss Nature as the law of authenticity and provenance within the twentieth-century art market as discussed in Anthony Amore’s The Art of the Con, Arne Birkenstock’s documentary, Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery, as well as articles from Deutsche Welle (DW) and Times Magazine, and then define diremption as the self-reflexive gaze as discussed in Martin Heidegger’s essays from Basic Writings and Schurmann’s interpretation of Heidegger’s text, Contributions. While I am of the opinion that Beltracchi is operating under the particulars of laws and ‘ethics of naturality’ (via Roman Stoicism), he is also operating outside of Nature and into the narration of singularity that contradicts the Hegemonic Fantasm of Modern Consciousness. I will argue that Beltracchi utilizes the fantasm of the art market to operate within the fantasm of forgery and, in doing so, becomes an ‘obedient spirit that lets itself be broken’ and re-subsumed by art itself.

The article is dedicated to a general overview of the political and legal ideas of Marcus Aurelius on human rights. In today’s period of fatal events, when the worst episodes of the past are becoming a reality again, namely the unleashing of an unprovoked brutal war against Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the world community is obliged to discuss human rights issues in the natural and legal aspects. In this regard, it seems necessary to turn to the origins of ideas about subjectively significant state and legal phenomena, devoid of problematic and veiled ideas. Undoubtedly, the world today needs more ideas full of humanity and the common good, ideas of the right decisions, which in their numbers can become something of a catalyst for peace around the world. Such political and legal ideas are able to change the world and adjust a certain group of people to the direction of development and improvement, rather than impoverishment and degradation. Among other things, it is important to take into account historical experience and views on the state and law, analyzing which can be at least closer to the truth in the relevant issue. The significance of the Roman Empire, which for some time stretched over large areas from England to Syria in the context of the concepts of history of state and law and political and legal doctrines is extremely great. The Roman Empire largely shaped world culture, science, law, art and education. The influence of the same Roman law on the jurisprudence of medieval and new states is enormous. The Roman Empire, both during its existence and after its disappearance, became a symbol of the development of law. Of great interest in this regard are the political and legal teachings of Marcus Aurelius - Emperor-philosopher, who introduced the idea of a state with equal law for all, governed by equality and equality of all, and the kingdom in which the highest good is the freedom of subordinates. The philosopher believed that the state should have the same laws for all, respect the freedom of citizens, and govern on the basis of equality and equality of all citizens. This philosopher pursued a balanced policy, his rule is characterized by respect for the people, the Senate and its members. Aurelius reign was called the «Senate Renaissance» because the emperor himself emphasized his obedience to the senate, which was the highest imperial power at the time. Marcus Aurelius directed his policy to help orphans, slaves, the poor and the sick, donated money to help all those in need. During this historical period, attitudes toward slavery and violence against them changed, and their murder was recognized as a crime thanks to Marcus Aurelius. In this article, the authors evaluates the main ideas of the Roman Stoics. The the authors clarifies some principles of equality of human rights and the functioning of the state in this direction, in particular on the basis of political and legal views of Marcus Aurelius.

In Book III of Abraham Cowley’s biblical epic Davideis, there is a previously unremarked echo of the Astronomica, a didactic epic by the ancient Roman Stoic poet Manilius. Cowley never finished writing Davideis, and the Preface to his 1656 Poems, where he first published it, states that he had ‘neither Leisure hitherto, nor … Appetite at present to finish the work, or so much as to revise that part which is done with that care which [he] resolved to bestow upon it, and which the Dignity of the Matter well deserves’.1 It has sometimes been suggested that his struggles to complete Davideis were related to his process of adding exhaustive endnotes to the poem.2 However, although Cowley’s own endnotes list many of his sources and models for Davideis, they do not draw readers’ attention to his echo of Manilius in Book III, which...

Epicureans and Roman Stoics interpreted pleasure (?????) differently from each other: for the Epicureans, pleasure was the ultimate good, while most Stoics perceived pleasure as something indifferent. This difference in understanding of pleasure is the crucial point of a disagreement between these two Hellenistic schools of philosophy, in particular if we consider their ethics. This paper examines this difference and highlights the significant similarities between the Roman Stoic and the Epicurean positions. Further, it briefly explores the Epicurean and the Roman Stoic understanding of social relations and philosophers? role in politics and society.

The purpose of the article is to study the mutual influence of the anthropological ideas of Roman Stoicism and early Christianity. The tasks are to identify the common and special in the anthropological attitudes of the Stoics and Christians, to consider the relevance of these attitudes. The methodological base of the article was made up of methods: hermeneutic (author's interpretation of foreign texts), comparative historical, unity of historical and logical, analysis, synthesis, analogy. Late Stoic and Christian anthropology reveal a deep relationship, which was the result of the colossal influence of Stoicism on the formation of Christian doctrine and the Stoics' unconscious perception of Christian views on man. What Christians and Roman Stoics had in common was their focus exclusively on the inner world, the search for harmonious being in their souls. This is relevant for the modern post-industrial era, which has absolutized the false attitude of the New Age – to put internal harmony and happiness in direct dependence on external factors. The enduring significance of the Roman Stoics and Christians is in the affirmation of man as a biosocial, body-soul-spiritual being with a dominant spiritual component divine in nature (which laid the foundation of Christian asceticism). This approach is relevant in connection with the modern setting for total digitalization, which creates the threat of moving a person into a completely artificial environment. For both currents, the idea of internal spiritual freedom was central, which is also significant for the modern postmodern world, which takes the idea of external freedoms to the extreme (complete emancipation) and exacerbates the situation of “escape” from internal freedom. Roman Stoics and Christians read human life in the context of monotheistic providentialism, which affirms the principle of mutual orientation of the good Divine and free human wills. The code of ethics of the Roman Stoics is practically congenial to the Christian and differs from the ethics of the ancient and middle Stoa. The joint affirmation of the eternal ethical principles by the Stoics and Christians is especially relevant in the modern era of postmodern deconstruction of “big” ideologies, moral, ideological relativism, mimicking tolerance.

The article analyzes various aspects of the interpretation of the concepts of personification of the state in modern political philosophy and political science. In particular, it is emphasized that, in purely theoretical terms, the paradoxes associated with numerous theoretical attempts to identify a “political personality” with the state go back to the philosophy of the early modernity. In their original form, they were very clearly presented by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan and his other political writings. The immediate source of much of the theoretical debates in modern scientific and philosophical literature are the Hobbesian definitions of the personality and the state in chapters 16 and 17 of Leviathan. The authors examine in detail the complex process of analytics of the Hobbesian legacy in the works of M. Oakeshott, Q. Skinner, D. Runciman, F. Pettit, A. Abizadeh, D. Gauthier, B. Holland, S. Fleming and other scientists and political theorists, focusing especially on the continuity between Hobbesian political philosophy and ancient tradition (Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Roman Stoics). A number of complex issues related to the interpretation of the personification of the state in modern political philosophy and international political theory are studied in detail. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of theoretical discussions between supporters of political realism and constructivism (N. G. Onuf A. Wendt, F. Kratochwil, R. Schuett, R. Pettman, R. Oprisko, K. Kaliher, etc.).

Mykola Vasyliovych Dyachenko is full of creative ideas, puts into practice the rich experience of a scientist - organizer of scientific and educational work, teacher.
 In particular, in recent years from the talented pen of the scientist came works:
 Dyachenko NV Roman Stoics: Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius. The experience of reading: a monograph / Nikolai Dyachenko. - Kharkiv: Savchuk OO, 2014. - 154 p. 
 Dyachenko NV Just to live: (philosophical essays, essays) / NV Dyachenko. - Kharkiv: Ed. Alexander Savchuk, 2017. - 243 p.
 Dyachenko NV Roman Stoics: Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius: the experience of reading: a monograph / Nikolai Dyachenko. - Beau Bassin: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing RU, 2018. - 154 p. 
 Seneca LA On the philosophy of life: thoughts, aphorisms / Lucius Anne Seneca; introduction. art., comp. text NV Dyachenko. - Kharkiv: Publisher Alexander Savchuk, 2021. - 176 p.

Abstract This article compares De clementia, a somewhat neglected minor work of the Roman Stoic philosopher L. Annaeus Seneca, and Paul’s Letter to the Romans. First, Seneca’s ideas about rule as a god-given task of moral improvement of the subjects and the role of mercy (clementia) within it are analysed. Then, Seneca’s argument is compared with Paul’s thoughts concerning salvation by grace in his Letter to the Romans. Seneca’s short political treatise De clementia shows a considerable number of interesting and specific agreements with Paul’s reasoning in the Letter to the Romans, even more than his other writings, which have been in the focus of scholarly investigation. Finally, some suggestions are made about the possible source(s) of the convergences and how they could be interpreted.

The multiple emergencies of global heating require bioethicists to embrace the dormant, comprehensive bioethics legacy of Van Rensselaer Potter, moving beyond the current narrower focus of the field on medicine and health care. We recommend readings that expand the core literature of bioethics to address key environmental issues. These are Jessica Pierce and Andrew Jameton's The Ethics of Environmentally Responsible Health Care; Dale Jamieson's Reason in a Dark Time; and David Wallace-Well's The Uninhabitable Earth. Because efforts to mitigate climate disasters are likely to be only partially successful, we also recommend the teachings of late Roman Stoicism and core texts of Buddhism, which provide ethical wisdom likely to be needed in the multiple crises of the Anthropocene.

This article centres on the role of the Lutheran confession in societal development in the Nordic countries, especially Denmark. Using the concept of social imaginaries, it argues that the Lutheran Reformation refined a monarchical ideology already existent in ancient Roman stoicism that both moved society toward absolutism and emphasized the government’s responsibility for social welfare. This thesis is documented by examples of royal ideology from material in the Danish national archives. The use of Denmark as a case exemplifies how confession can play a formative role for society and, at the same time, offers new material for the correct interpretation of Luther’s two kingdoms doctrine as an ontology and a world view.

Musonius Rufus: That One Should Disdain Hardships. The Teachings of a Roman Stoic. Translated by Cora E. Lutz, with an Introduction by Gretchen Reydam‐Schils. Pp. xxix, 124, Yale University Press, 2020, £15.00/$22.00.