137: Philosopher as Spectator

In Marcus Tullius Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, he cites a story of Pythagoras, the man who created the term, "philosopher". His description of the philosopher is as one who comes into life not as a competitor, not in the pursuit of money or fame - but merely as a spectator, who observes and inquires into the nature of things. According to Pythagoras, this way of life is the best, by far; Cicero wholeheartedly embraces this way of understanding philosophy, as part of his consolatory project in which philosophy is seen as part and parcel with virtue. For Cicero, the worth of philosophy is that it delivers us from life's suffering. We will explore the background of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis, and the Homeric convention of presenting the gods themselves as spectators. This analysis will bring us back to Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy, as well as some of the comments he makes in his later career about the theatric element of Greek culture, and the philosopher as a spectator, who "stands aside" from the world rather than acting within it. By the end of the episode, we will pose the question of whether or not Cicero's Stoic philosophy actually constitutes a life as spectating, or whether Cicero is just another actor on the philosophical stage.

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