The cosmopolitanism in Marcus Aurelius: political, social and ecological implications

Authors

Keywords:

Marco Aurelio; Cosmopolitanism; Environmental ethics.

Abstract

This article examines the concept of cosmopolitanism in Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. Using selected passages from the work, it analyzes the scope of the idea of cosmopolitanism and its anthropological, political, social, and ethical implications. In the social sphere, an altruistic interpretation of Marcus Aurelius' position is defended. Finally, it is proposed that the concept of cosmopolitanism supports a defense of animal dignity and environmental ethics.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Brown, Eric. «The stoic invention of cosmopolitan politics». Conferência apresentado na For the Proceedings of the Conference «Cosmopolitan Politics: On The History and Future of a Controversial Ideal», Frankfurt am Main, dezembro de 2006.

Diogenes. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Editado por Jim Miller. Traduzido por Pamela Mensch. Compact edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.

Eliopoulos, Panos. Individualism and cosmopolitanism in the imperial stoa. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 5, n.o 2 (2018): 69–81.

Epicteto, Encheiridion de Epicteto, trad. Aldo Dinucci e Alfredo Julien, Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, 2014.

Ferguson, John. Utopias of the classical world. Aspects of Greek and Roman life. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1975.

Gill, Christopher. Stoic writers of the imperial era. Em The Cambridge history of Greek and Roman political thought. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008.

Gill, Christopher. The Structured Self in Hellenistic and Roman Thought, Oxford University Press, 2009.

Hadot, Pierre. La citadelle intérieure: introduction aux Pensées de Marc Aurèle. Paris: Fayard, 1992.

Long, Anthony. The Concept of the Cosmopolitan in Greek & Roman Thought. Daedalus 137, n.o 3 (Verão de de 2008): 50–58.

Marc-Aurèle. Pensées. 6.a ed. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1983.

Marco Aurélio. Pensamentos. Traduzido por João Maia. Lisboa: Relógio D’Água Editores, 2023.

Marcus Aurelius, Robin Hard, e Christopher Gill. Meditations. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

McCabe, Mary. Extend or identify: two Stoic accounts of altruism. Metaphysics, Soul and Ethics in Ancient Thought: Themes from the work of Richard Sorabji. ed. / Ricardo Salles. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005.

Martínez, Anibal. Cosmopolitismo en Marco Aurelio - ética y política. Universidad de Los Andes, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1992/12517.

Moatti, Claudia. Migration et droit dans l’Empire Romain. Em The Impact of Mobility and Migration in the Roman Empire: Proceedings of the Twelfth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Rome, June 17-19, 2015), por Elio Lo Cascio e Laurens Ernst Tacoma (BRILL, 2016), https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004334809.

Nussbaum, Martha. The Worth of Human Dignity: Two Tensions in Stoic Cosmopolitanism. Em Philosophy and Power in the Graeco-Roman World. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Ramelli, Ilaria, David Konstan, Hierocles, e Hierocles. Hierocles the Stoic: Elements of Ethics, Fragments and Excerpts. Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Greco-Roman World, v. 28. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009.

Scuccimarra, Luca. Los confines del mundo: historia del cosmopolitismo desde la Antigüedad hasta el siglo XVIII. Oviedo: KRK, 2017.

Shogry, Simon. Stoic Cosmopolitanism and Environmental Ethics. Em Routledge Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy. Routledge, 2022.

Stanton, Greg. The Cosmopolitan Ideas of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Phronesis 13, n.o 2. 1968: 183–95.

Vesperini, Pierre. Droiture et mélancolie: sur les écrits de Marc Aurèle. Lagrasse: Verdier, 2016.

Published

2026-04-01

How to Cite

AMARAL, Pedro. The cosmopolitanism in Marcus Aurelius: political, social and ecological implications. Temporalidades, Belo Horizonte, v. 17, n. 2, p. 1–15, 2026. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/temporalidades/article/view/61036. Acesso em: 2 apr. 2026.