{"title":"Perhaps a Fish, Surely an Ostrich, and Definitely a Fool: The Ontology of Insults at De Constantia Sapientis 17.1","authors":"Tommaso Gazzarri","doi":"10.1353/ajp.2023.a907405","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:De Constantia Sapientis 17.1 contains two animal-based insults, the interpretation of which has heretofore proven controversial because of the difficulties in pinpointing the exact nature/identity of comparandum and comparatum. An adequate appreciation of the passage requires assessing the function of these contumeliae within Seneca's philosophical strategy. Their ontological vacuity reflects the imaginative status of the two animals selected to construct the jibes. Thus, one should resist rage, not only on account of this passion being self-damaging but also because imagination is a faulty cognitive process.","PeriodicalId":46128,"journal":{"name":"AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajp.2023.a907405","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"CLASSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:De Constantia Sapientis 17.1 contains two animal-based insults, the interpretation of which has heretofore proven controversial because of the difficulties in pinpointing the exact nature/identity of comparandum and comparatum. An adequate appreciation of the passage requires assessing the function of these contumeliae within Seneca's philosophical strategy. Their ontological vacuity reflects the imaginative status of the two animals selected to construct the jibes. Thus, one should resist rage, not only on account of this passion being self-damaging but also because imagination is a faulty cognitive process.
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1880, American Journal of Philology (AJP) has helped to shape American classical scholarship. Today, the Journal has achieved worldwide recognition as a forum for international exchange among classicists and philologists by publishing original research in classical literature, philology, linguistics, history, society, religion, philosophy, and cultural and material studies. Book review sections are featured in every issue. AJP is open to a wide variety of contemporary and interdisciplinary approaches, including literary interpretation and theory, historical investigation, and textual criticism.