On Moral Ends

What is the ultimate goal of life? What should we pursue for its own sake, and what makes a human life truly fulfilled? In On Moral Ends, Cicero brings together the three great competing answers of the ancient world: pleasure (Epicureans), virtue alone (Stoics), and a blend of virtue with natural goods like health and friendship (Aristotelians). Each school is presented by a passionate advocate, then challenged by Cicero himself in dialogues of startling intellectual honesty. You will encounter Epicurus's counterintuitive defense of simple pleasures, Zeno's radical claim that virtue is the only good, and the Peripatetic insistence on the full spectrum of human flourishing. More than a historical artifact, this is a work that forces you to examine your own assumptions about happiness, duty, and the meaning of a well-lived life. Translated into crisp, lucid prose, with introductory guides to each argument, this edition unlocks a classic that shaped two thousand years of ethical thought. Part of The Modern Wisdom Library.