ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the scope of 'ethics', the place of 'ethics' in 'philosophy', the varieties of 'philosophy' between which choices could be made, and something of the place of 'philosophy' in culture and society in the first and second centuries CE. It focuses on the kind of authority claimed by philosophia in virtue of its aims and subject-matter, and on some of the issues raised by the scope and weight of the claim. The book deals with constitutional theory and the issue of monarchy. It discusses leading themes and points of controversy in the area of inter-personal ethics and social relations. The book focuses on ideas about the inner life and character-structure of the individual, to thinking about the relations of the individual with others and the outside world.
