Appeals to Reason

In this essay, I shall argue that reading Cicero's Tusculan Disputations (TD) as belonging to the consolation genre—as Cicero seems to want us to—explains the Stoic content and dialectical form of book V. For Cicero, the analytical strength of Stoic theory and syllogisms provides a robust theoretical groundwork necessary for comforting a person who has lost a loved one. My purpose in this essay is twofold: to demonstrate that Cicero's writing, against some interpretations, does contain rigorous philosophical discourse, and to provide an example of how philosophy and argument can enrich and benefit human life. To explore these claims, this essay first provides Cicero's intellectual background and philosophical method employed in the Tusculans. Secondly, I outline the Stoic-Ciceronian theory of luctus, followed by a discussion of consolation and Cicero's failed Consolatio. Lastly, I focus on the most powerful arguments in TD V for the Stoic theses that "virtue is sufficient for a good life" and that "virtue is the only good" in order to examine their role in consolation.