The Reign of Marcus Aurelius: Stoicism in Political Decisions

The bachelor thesis focuses on the philosophy and government of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. The thesis aims to find out how Stoic philosophy influenced Marcus Aurelius and his political decisions. Although he is generally regarded as a representative of Stoicism, the first section of the thesis examines to what extent, or whether at all, he truly was a Stoic. This part begins with a description of Stoicism in general, followed by an introduction of two representatives of the Late Stoa, Seneca and Epictetus, whose thoughts the thesis draws on in the following sections. Their Stoic ideas are compared with the philosophical reflections of Marcus Aurelius, which are contained in his only philosophical book - Meditations. The thesis analyses the thoughts of the book in detail using qualitative content analysis. Based on this section dealing solely with philosophy, the first research question can be answered, i.e., to what extent Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic. In the second section, the thesis traces the important and controversial political decisions that Marcus Aurelius made during his reign. The insights gained from historical literature are enriched with the author's interpretation of the interconnectedness with Stoicism, which forms the basis for answering the second research question, i.e., to..