Ksenija Atanasijević on Seneca’s Consistency

The aim of this chapter is to examine how consistent Seneca was in his Stoic philosophy and in what sense his teaching is “free from the strict regulations of older Stoicism”, as Ksenija Atanasijević writes. To do so, we are going to compare Seneca’s philosophical teaching with historical facts about his political activity and everyday life. Following Seneca’s inner path, we are going to emphasize self-scrutiny as the key to his evolution into a Stoic sage and “the best connoisseur of psychology among the Stoics”, as Atanasijević describes him. Ultimately, we will examine how this pioneer of non-radical Stoicism completed his evolution by achieving ultimate harmony with his inner ideal at the moment and in the famous scene of his death. We will try to deepen Ksenija Atanasijević’s conclusions on similar topics and, based on that, improve our understanding of Seneca and his place within the Stoic school of philosophy.