Philosopher · Antiquity
Marcus Tullius Cicero
106–43 BC · Roman eclecticism (Academic and Stoic)
Pagan statesman and philosopher; his Hortensius turned the young Augustine to the search for wisdom.
Roman consul, orator and philosopher who transmitted Greek philosophy to the Latin world. An Academic skeptic in method, he leaned Stoic in ethics, defending natural law as “right reason in agreement with nature,” the duties of public life, the immortality of the soul and the gods' government of the world.
Why he matters: Ambrose modeled his De Officiis on Cicero's, Augustine learned from his Hortensius, and the natural-law tradition of the Church speaks in sentences Cicero wrote; Latin Christian prose and political thought are unthinkable without him.
Where to be careful
His skepticism about certain knowledge and his treatment of religion as largely a civic institution fall short of both philosophy's and faith's claims.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.