De finibus bonorum et malorum

De finibus bonorum et malorum ("On the ends of good and evil") is a Socratic dialogue by the Roman orator, politician, and Academic Skeptic philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Together with the Tusculanae Quaestiones written shortly afterwards and the Academica, De finibus bonorum et malorum is one of the most extensive philosophical works of Cicero.

In the first book, the interlocutors present the Epicurean theory of hedonism, which holds that pleasure in the form of aponia (absence of pain) is regarded as the highest good.

In the fourth book, Cicero casts doubt on this dogma, arguing a supposed natural state (the "cradle argument"), as well as issues regarding the exclusion of other goods entailed by Stoic doctrine.

In the last book Cicero presents in the form of a dialogue between himself and several friends the theory of eudaimonia taught by Antiochus of Ascalon, which treats Aristotelianism as a subgroup of Platonism.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero