Hierocles
Roman Stoic philosopher
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Why Is Hierocles Influential?
(Suggest an Edit or Addition)According to Wikipedia, Hierocles was a Stoic philosopher. Very little is known about his life. Aulus Gellius mentions him as one of his contemporaries, and describes him as a "grave and holy man." Work Hierocles is famous for a book called Elements of Ethics , part of which was discovered as a papyrus fragment at Hermopolis in 1901. This 300 line fragment discusses self-perception, and argues that all birds, reptiles, and mammals from the moment of birth perceive themselves continuously and that self-perception is both the primary and the most basic faculty of animals. The argument draws heavily on a Stoic concept known as self-ownership or oikeiôsis which was based on the view that all animals behave in a self-preserving way and are not just aware of themselves, but are aware of themselves in relation of other animals. Hierocles's argument about self-perception was part of the groundwork for an entire theory of ethics.
