Philosophical thought of the School of the Sextii

Abstract

Around the first half century B.C. the first Roman school of philosophy arose, which was called School of Sextii. The known members of the School were: Quintus Sextius the Elder, founding father of the School, Sextius Niger, Quintus' son, who became scholarch of the School after his father's death, Sotion, Papirius Fabianus (both teachers of Seneca the Younger), Crassicius Pasicles, a grammarian, and Celsius Cornelius, an expert doctor. The School followed the footsteps of the Hellenistic schools, and similar to these, the pursuit of happiness was its purpose. The school of the Sextii had taken to heart that part of the philosophy called physical, characterizing itself mainly as a philosophical-medical school, blending in its philosophy Pythagorean, Platonic, Cynic, and Stoic elements. The purpose of this paper is to underline the main features of the philosophical thought of the school, searching for possible new elements in its doctrine.