Pléthon et les stoïciens. Système et fragment
Pléthon and the Stoics. System and Fragment

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the relation of Pletho’s philosophy to Stoicism. It is demonstrated on the basis of selected fragments that the stoic influence on Pletho was of great importance and had effect on moral philosophy as well as on metaphysics. The latter influence is evident in the concept of stoic common notions that Pletho uses and mostly in the necessitarism of the stoic theory of destiny to the stronger version of which Pletho adhered completely. It is the systematic aspect of the stoic philosophy that appeals particularly to Pletho and not the stoicism that was morally conflated to match with Christian ethics or the politics of the nuovi viri of Renaissance and that was preceded by the stoic eclecticism of Panaetius. The article ends up with a reflection on the historical destiny of systematic stoic philosophy and its fragmentation that in a way was mirrored in the violent destruction of Pletho’s system and the mixture of genres that it initially stood for.

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