Bibliography
| Title: Autarkeia. Self-Sufficiency from Parmenides to Boethius Type: Thesis Year: 1996 Abstract: "This dissertation studies the meaning and usage of autarkeia and equivalent expressions in Greek and Roman literature. The first chapter considers autarkeia as a cosmological and theological term. Following Parmenides' conception of Being, Plato called the cosmos self-sufficient at Timaeus 33C because it is all-inclusive and needs nothing external. This view of the cosmos was accepted by the Stoic Chrysippus and Platonists such as Alcinous, Apuleius, and Plotinus. Divine self-sufficiency appeared first in Euripides' Heracles and was most prominent in Middle and Neoplatonic theology, where it was associated with the first principle's excellence and transcendence. Philo and Josephus adapted divine autarkeia to their tradition of the Biblical God; as early as Acts 17.25, Christian apologists used it to attack sacrificial ritual. The second chapter studies two conceptions of self-sufficiency as a characteristic of the individual, which I label "broad" and "narrow". According to the broad conception, the self-sufficient individual must possess a wide range of bodily and external goods, which, Thucydides' Pericles and Aristotle argued, the polis must supply. The narrow conception required freedom from need, achieved in one of two ways. On the one hand, according to Democritus, Xenophon's Socrates, the Cynics, and Epicurus, the individual achieves self-sufficiency by limiting as much as possible the need for necessities such as food, water, clothing, and housing. On the other hand, the ideal Stoic or Platonic philosopher achieved self-sufficiency by possessing the supreme good, usually defined as arete, thereby obviating the need for external or bodily goods. The third chapter surveys autarkeia in Christian ethical thought. The three occurrences of autarkeia in the Pauline epistles (2 Corinthians 9.8, Philippians 4.11, and 1 Timothy 6.6) reflect the conception of self-sufficiency attained through the restriction of needs. Influenced by these passages, Clement of Alexandria, Basil, and John Chrysostom accepted the same conception. Ambrose, Augustine, and Boethius, however, argued that the key to self-sufficiency was the possession of the supreme good, which they defined as God". Keywords: Greek and Roman historiography |