Philosophy in the political Space? Reflections on Cicero's Philosophical Works in the 50s

Scholars disagree to what extent Cicero comes in conflict with the traditional Roman norm structure, when he constitutes the Roman state and its law in "De re publica" and "De legibus" referring to a higher reason. By mentioning any form of rationality, he had to be careful not to deprive the regulations that had been successfully established in Roman politics and the mediation processes which were typical for Roman political culture. This article tries to show that Cicero was apparently aware of this problem and faced it as, whenever he spoke about ratio or lex, he didn't put the 'reason' (Vernunft), but the more flexible 'mind' (Verstand) in the center of his philosophy.