Ethics

De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum

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Cicero

45 BC

De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (On the Ends of Goods and Evils) is Cicero's most systematic work of moral philosophy — a series of five books in dialogue form that surveys and critiques the three dominant ethical schools of the Hellenistic world: Epicureanism (pleasure as the highest good), Stoicism (virtue as the sole good), and the Academic scepticism derived from Antiochus of Ascalon. Cicero's method is dialogical and eclectic: rather than defending a single position, he presents each view in its strongest form and then subjects it to rigorous cross-examination. The Epicurean interlocutor argues that all natural creatures seek pleasure and avoid pain, and that philosophical wisdom consists in maximising net pleasure over a lifetime; the Stoic responds that virtue alone is intrinsically good and that all apparent goods — health, wealth, pleasure — are merely "preferred indifferents"; the Antiochean position attempts to reconcile Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics by identifying virtue as the primary good while allowing that external goods contribute to happiness. Cicero himself leans toward the New Academic position of probabilism: since certainty is unavailable, the philosopher should follow the most persuasive argument while remaining open to revision.