Meditations: The Diary of a Philosopher-Emperor Written to Himself on the Battlefield (Complete Translation of the Original Greek Text) - Hyundai Jisung Classic 18

Author Marcus Aurelius · Publisher Hyeondae Jiseong · Published 2018-04-02 · ISBN 9791187142379

About the Book

Features of this book
#Complete translation from the original Greek
#Detailed commentary by professional translator Park Mun-jae
#First Korean inclusion of Epictetus's "Enchiridion," which greatly influenced Aurelius
#Required reading at Harvard, Oxford, Chicago, and Sogang Universities

Meditations has long been considered one of the greatest books in history. While its ideas are Marcus Aurelius's own, they were not entirely original.

1. What kind of book is Meditations?
The primary purpose of writing Meditations was for Aurelius to examine his deepest thoughts and to advise himself on how best to live in his current circumstances. How did this ancient book become required reading at Harvard and Oxford? In this book, he sought to clearly articulate the important propositions, core ethical principles, and insights that had supported his entire life's journey within short passages. Furthermore, in a broader sense, the purpose of this work was to publish and widely disseminate a book containing ethics that humans could practice in their lives during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.
Epictetus's writings particularly influenced him. Two types of works widely used in the Stoic philosophy he based his ideas on had a significant impact on his Meditations. One type presented general guidelines on how to lead an ethical life, Cicero's On Duties being a famous example. The other type revealed the psychological and ethical failures humans experience, defining them as illnesses and using philosophy as a means to cure them. Seneca's On Anger was such a work.
Marcus's Meditations reflects the objectives and themes of these two types of works, uniquely combining advice and healing.

2. The Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius
In Meditations, Marcus appears to have expounded his beliefs not solely based on Stoic philosophy but by blending ideas from various philosophical schools. However, such an eclectic approach was not common in the intellectual world of his time. The general tendency of that era was to adhere to and follow one particular philosophical school.
A more affirmative reason showing Stoic philosophy's influence on Marcus is that, in Meditations, he does not use Stoic technical terms, and at times reconfigures those concepts in his own unique way, but overall, it strongly evokes Stoic philosophy. Therefore, we can conclude that Marcus fundamentally adhered to Stoic philosophy and broadly acknowledged the ideas of various philosophical schools based on it.

3. Core Concepts of Stoic Philosophy
There are five characteristics of Stoic philosophy at the time, and these align with themes prominently emphasized in Meditations.
First, it held that only a life lived in accordance with virtue was a happy life. That is, the idea that virtue is all that is needed for a human to live a happy life.
Second, it was the idea that human emotions and desires are directly determined by beliefs related to what one considers valuable or desirable. That is, emotions and desires do not form a separate, irrational dimension in human mental life.
Third, it was the idea that humans are inherently inclined to benefit others by nature.
Fourth, belonging to physics, it served as a link connecting ethics and physics. One of the debates at the time was whether nature or the cosmos contained an inherent purpose or meaning, or whether it was merely the result of natural laws or processes acting randomly. Stoic philosophers adopted the first view, believing that everything is already determined and that all events embody a divine purpose or providence, while Epicurean philosophers adopted the second view, expounding their ideas based on the atomic nature of matter. Stoic philosophy held that fields of philosophy such as ethics and physics were interconnected and supported each other. Thus, their belief in divine providence was part of physics but also provided an important framework related to ethics. Conversely, ethics supported and gave meaning to principles associated with God, including providence.
Fifth, Stoic philosophers viewed philosophy as a highly unified and knowledge-forming system.

4. Recurring Themes in Meditations
Marcus uses very standard Stoic philosophical themes in his Meditations, but in some cases, he also employs his own unique expressions that we might not expect. For example, he emphasizes that what defines our identity is essentially "that which rules us." What he expresses as "that which rules us" refers to "reason." He contrasts the different parts that constitute a human: "body" and "spirit." On the surface, it seems to follow a Platonic dualism that distinguishes a disembodied spirit from an embodied body. However, such passages merely present ethical lessons by reflecting the first distinctive idea of Stoic philosophy discussed earlier.
In other themes, the influence of Stoic philosophy on Marcus is clearer. For instance, like Epictetus, he repeatedly advises himself not to bring about suffering by adding useless judgments of good or evil to situations or circumstances.
Marcus, on the one hand, frequently mentions the idea that divine or cosmic order forms an important framework for human ethical life, and in this respect, he strongly resembles Epictetus. On the other hand, by questioning "providence or atoms," he takes a reserved stance, not definitively stating which worldview is true among the Stoic idea of an inherent purpose in nature and the Epicurean idea that the universe is merely the result of the aggregation and dispersal of atoms.
Overall, while Marcus cannot be said to have fully understood Stoic philosophy and presented a brilliantly integrated idea of ethics and physics in his Meditations, it can be said that he believed the Stoic providential worldview was true and presented human ethical practice based on that worldview.

Table of Contents

Commentary | Park Mun-jae
Chronology of Marcus Aurelius

Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4
Book 5
Book 6
Book 7
Book 8
Book 9
Book 10
Book 11
Book 12

Appendix: The Enchiridion of Epictetus