The Tusculanae Disputationes (also Tusculanae Quaestiones; English: Tusculan Disputations) is a series of five books written by Cicero, around 45 BC, attempting to popularise Greek philosophy in ancient Rome, including Stoicism. It is so called as it was reportedly written at his villa in Tusculum. His daughter had recently died and in mourning Cicero devoted himself to philosophical studies. The Tusculan Disputations consist of five books, each on a particular theme: On the contempt of death; On pain; On grief; On emotional disturbances; and whether Virtue alone is sufficient for a happy life.

In the year 45 BC, when Cicero was around 61 years old, his daughter, Tullia, died following childbirth. Her loss afflicted Cicero to such a degree that he abandoned all public business and left the city retiring to Asterra, which was a country house that he had near Antium. There he devoted himself to philosophical studies, writing several works, including De finibus. It was his custom to take some friends with him into the country for intellectual discussion. His Tusculan villa had a gallery called the Academy, which Cicero had built for the purpose of philosophical conversation.

It is largely agreed that Cicero wrote the Tusculan Disputations in the summer and/or autumn of 45 BC. Cicero addresses the Disputationes to his friend Brutus, a fellow politician of note, and later assassin of Julius Caesar. In the first book Cicero sets up the fiction that they are the record of five days of discussions with his friends written after the recent departure of Brutus. The second book includes the detail that Cicero and his friends spent their mornings in rhetorical exercises and their afternoons in philosophical discussions. The conversations are however very one-sided—the anonymous friend of each dialogue acts merely to supply the topic for the day and to provide smooth transitions within the topic.

Cicero heavily relied on Crantor's "On Grief" (Latin: De Luctu, Greek: Περὶ Πένθους) in his Tusculan Disputations. Cicero also made great use of it while writing his celebrated Consolatio on the death of his daughter, Tullia. Several extracts from "On Grief" are preserved in Pseudo-Plutarch's treatise on Consolation addressed to Apollonius, which has many parallels with Tusculan Disputations.

The Tusculanae Disputationes consist of five books:

The purpose of Cicero's lectures is to fortify the mind with practical and philosophical lessons adapted to the circumstances of life, to elevate us above the influence of all its passions and pains. In each of the dialogues, one of the guests, who is called the Auditor, sets up a topic for discussion. Each dialogue begins with an introduction on the excellence of philosophy, and the advantage of adopting the wisdom of the Greeks into the Latin language.

In the first dialogue the auditor asserts that death is an evil, which Cicero proceeds to refute:

Efficiet enim ratio ut, quaecumque vera sit earum sententiarum quas eui, mors aut malum non sit aut sit bonum potius. Nam si cor aut sanguis aut cerebrum est animus, certe, quoniam est corpus, interibit cum reliquo corpore; si anima est, fortasse dissipabitur; si ignis, extinguetur; si est Aristoxeni harmonia, dissolvetur. [...] His sententiis omnibus nihil post mortem pertinere ad quemquam potest; pariter enim cum vita sensus amittitur; non sentientis autem nihil est ullam in partem quod intersit. Reliquorum sententiae spem adferunt, si te hoc forte delectat, posse animos, cum e corporibus excesserint, in caelum quasi in domicilium suum pervenire.

For reason will demonstrate that, whichever of the opinions which I have stated is true, it must follow, then, that death cannot be an evil; or that it must rather be something desirable; for if either the heart, or the blood, or the brain, is the soul, then certainly the soul, being corporeal, must perish with the rest of the body; if it is air, it will perhaps be dissolved; if it is fire, it will be extinguished; if it is Aristoxenus's harmony, it will be put out of tune. [...] In all these opinions, there is nothing to affect any one after death; for all feeling is lost with life, and where there is no sensation, nothing can interfere to affect us. The opinions of others do indeed bring us hope; if it is any pleasure to you to think that souls, after they leave the body, may go to heaven as to a permanent home.