The Roman Stoics on the Emancipatory Potential of the Philosophical Paideia

Abstract

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.

Ideja da učenje oslobađa ili, preciznije da obrazovanje emancipuje teško da predstavlja neku novinu, budući da se ta ideja može pratiti sve do antičkog perioda, odnosno grčke i rimske filozofske misli. U ovom radu nastojimo da pokažemo da su neke od ideja (poput ideje da su i žene i muškarci zbog svoje racionalne prirode podjednako podložni vrlini) i obrazovnih praksi (poput prakse kojom se podsticalo iznošenje sopstvenih stavova i korišćenja vlastitog razuma, bez oslanjanja na spoljne autoritete) koje su zastupali neki od dobro poznatih rimskih stoika imale emancipatorski potencijal. Posebnu važnost je nosio zahtev u skladu sa kojim filozofija treba da se živi i van učionica.