Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius — Marcus Aurelius — John Shaqi
Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius · en
Antoninus does not treat of Politic. His subject is
Ethic, and Ethic in its practical application to his own conduct in
life as a man and as a governor. His Ethic is founded on his
doctrines about man’s nature, the Universal Nature, and the
relation of every man to everything else. It is therefore
intimately and inseparably connected with Physic, or the nature of
Things, and with Theology, or the Nature of the Deity. He advises
us to examine well all the impressions on our minds and to form a
right judgment of them, to make just conclusions, and to inquire
into the meaning of words, and so far to apply Dialectic; but he
has no attempt at any exposition of Dialectic, and his philosophy
is in substance purely moral and practical. He says, “Constantly
and, if it be possible, on the occasion of every Impression on the
soul, apply to it the principles of Physic, of Ethic, and of
Dialectic”: which is only another way of telling us to examine the
impression in every possible way. In another passage (III. 11) he
says, “To the aids which have been mentioned, let this one still be
added: make for thyself a definition or description of the object
which is presented to thee, so as to see distinctly what kind of a
thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete
entirety, and tell thyself its proper name, and the names of the
things of which it has been compounded, and into which it will be
resolved.” Such an examination implies a use of Dialectic, which
Antoninus accordingly employed as a means towards establishing his
Physical, Theological, and Ethical principles.