Stoicism

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A bust of Zeno of Citium, considered the founder of Stoicism Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Napoli, 1969) - BEIC 6353768.jpg
A bust of Zeno of Citium, considered the founder of Stoicism

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. [1] The Stoics believed that the practice of virtue is enough to achieve eudaimonia: a well-lived life. The Stoics identified the path to achieving it with a life spent practicing the four virtues in everyday life: wisdom, courage, temperance or moderation, and justice, and living in accordance with nature. It was founded in the ancient Agora of Athens by Zeno of Citium around 300 BC.

Contents

Alongside Aristotle's ethics, the Stoic tradition forms one of the major founding approaches to virtue ethics. [2] The Stoics are especially known for teaching that "virtue is the only good" for human beings, and that external things, such as health, wealth, and pleasure, are not good or bad in themselves ( adiaphora ) but have value as "material for virtue to act upon". Many Stoics—such as Seneca and Epictetus—emphasized that because "virtue is sufficient for happiness", a sage would be emotionally resilient to misfortune. The Stoics also held that certain destructive emotions resulted from errors of judgment, and they believed people should aim to maintain a will (called prohairesis ) that is "in accordance with nature". Because of this, the Stoics thought the best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said but how a person behaved. [3] To live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order since they believed everything was rooted in nature.

Stoicism flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD, and among its adherents was Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It experienced a decline after Christianity became the state religion in the 4th century AD. Since then, it has seen revivals, notably in the Renaissance (Neostoicism) and in the contemporary era (modern Stoicism). [4]

History

The name Stoicism derives from the Stoa Poikile (Ancient Greek: ἡ ποικίλη στοά), or "painted porch", a colonnade decorated with mythic and historical battle scenes on the north side of the Agora in Athens where Zeno of Citium and his followers gathered to discuss their ideas, near the end of the 4th century BC. [5] Unlike the Epicureans, Zeno chose to teach his philosophy in a public space. Stoicism was originally known as Zenonism. However, this name was soon dropped, likely because the Stoics did not consider their founders to be perfectly wise and to avoid the risk of the philosophy becoming a cult of personality. [6]

Zeno's ideas developed from those of the Cynics (brought to him by Crates of Thebes), whose founding father, Antisthenes, had been a disciple of Socrates. Zeno's most influential successor was Chrysippus, who followed Cleanthes as leader of the school, and was responsible for molding what is now called Stoicism. [7] Stoicism became the foremost popular philosophy among the educated elite in the Hellenistic world and the Roman Empire [8] to the point where, in the words of Gilbert Murray, "nearly all the successors of Alexander [...] professed themselves Stoics". [9] Later Roman Stoics focused on promoting a life in harmony within the universe within which we are active participants.

Scholars [10] usually divide the history of Stoicism into three phases: the Early Stoa, from Zeno's founding to Antipater, the Middle Stoa, including Panaetius and Posidonius, and the Late Stoa, including Musonius Rufus, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. No complete works survived from the first two phases of Stoicism. Only Roman texts from the Late Stoa survived. [11]

Philosophical system

Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life.

— Epictetus, Discourses 1.15.2, Robin Hard revised translation

Of all the schools of ancient philosophy, Stoicism made the greatest claim to being utterly systematic. [12] In the view of the Stoics, philosophy is the practice of virtue, and virtue, the highest form of which is utility, is generally speaking, constructed from ideals of logic, monistic physics, and naturalistic ethics. [13] These three ideals constitute virtue which is necessary for 'living a well reasoned life', seeing as they are all parts of a logos, or philosophical discourse, which includes the mind's rational dialogue with itself. [14] Of them, the Stoics emphasized ethics as the main focus of human knowledge, though their logical theories were of more interest for later philosophers.

Stoicism teaches the development of self-control as a means of overcoming destructive emotions; the philosophy holds that becoming a clear and unbiased thinker allows one to understand the universal reason ( logos ). Stoicism's primary aspect involves improving the individual's ethical and moral well-being: "Virtue consists in a will that is in agreement with Nature". [15] This principle also applies to the realm of interpersonal relationships; "to be free from anger, envy, and jealousy", [16] and to accept even slaves as "equals of other men, because all men alike are products of nature". [17]

The Stoic ethic espouses a deterministic perspective; in regard to those who lack Stoic virtue, Cleanthes once opined that the wicked man is "like a dog tied to a cart, and compelled to go wherever it goes". [15] A Stoic of virtue, by contrast, would amend his will to suit the world and remain, in the words of Epictetus, "sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy", [16] thus positing a "completely autonomous" individual will and at the same time a universe that is "a rigidly deterministic single whole". This viewpoint was later described as "Classical Pantheism" (and was adopted by Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza). [18]

Chrysippus, the third leader of the Stoic school, wrote over 300 books on logic. His works were lost, but an outline of his logical system can be reconstructed from fragments and testimony. Chrysippos BM 1846.jpg
Chrysippus, the third leader of the Stoic school, wrote over 300 books on logic. His works were lost, but an outline of his logical system can be reconstructed from fragments and testimony.

Logic

Diodorus Cronus, who was one of Zeno's teachers, is considered the philosopher who first introduced and developed an approach to logic now known as propositional logic, which is based on statements or propositions, rather than terms, differing greatly from Aristotle's term logic. Later, Chrysippus developed a system that became known as Stoic logic and included a deductive system, Stoic Syllogistic, which was considered a rival to Aristotle's Syllogistic (see Syllogism). New interest in Stoic logic came in the 20th century, when important developments in logic were based on propositional logic. Susanne Bobzien wrote, "The many close similarities between Chrysippus's philosophical logic and that of Gottlob Frege are especially striking". [19]

Bobzien also notes that, "Chrysippus wrote over 300 books on logic, on virtually any topic logic today concerns itself with, including speech act theory, sentence analysis, singular and plural expressions, types of predicates, indexicals, existential propositions, sentential connectives, negations, disjunctions, conditionals, logical consequence, valid argument forms, theory of deduction, propositional logic, modal logic, tense logic, epistemic logic, logic of suppositions, logic of imperatives, ambiguity and logical paradoxes". [19]

Categories

The Stoics held that all beings (ὄντα)—though not all things (τινά)—are material. [20] Besides the existing beings they admitted four incorporeals (asomata): time, place, void, and sayable. [21] They were held to be just 'subsisting' while such a status was denied to universals. [22] Thus, they accepted Anaxagoras's idea (as did Aristotle) that if an object is hot, it is because some part of a universal heat body had entered the object. But, unlike Aristotle, they extended the idea to cover all accidents. Thus, if an object is red, it would be because some part of a universal red body had entered the object.

They held that there were four categories:

  1. Substance (ὑποκείμενον): The primary matter, formless substance, (ousia) that things are made of
  2. Quality (ποιόν): The way matter is organized to form an individual object; in Stoic physics, a physical ingredient ( pneuma : air or breath), which informs the matter
  3. Somehow disposed (πως ἔχον): Particular characteristics, not present within the object, such as size, shape, action, and posture
  4. Somehow disposed in relation to something (πρός τί πως ἔχον): Characteristics related to other phenomena, such as the position of an object within time and space relative to other objects

The Stoics outlined that our own actions, thoughts, and reactions are within our control. The opening paragraph of the Enchiridion states the categories as: "Some things in the world are up to us, while others are not. Up to us are our faculties of judgment, motivation, desire, and aversion. In short, whatever is our own doing." [23] These suggest a space that is up to us or within our power. A simple example of the Stoic categories in use is provided by Jacques Brunschwig:

I am a certain lump of matter, and thereby a substance, an existent something (and thus far that is all); I am a man, and this individual man that I am, and thereby qualified by a common quality and a peculiar one; I am sitting or standing, disposed in a certain way; I am the father of my children, the fellow citizen of my fellow citizens, disposed in a certain way in relation to something else. [24]

Epistemology

The Stoics propounded that knowledge can be attained through the use of reason. Truth can be distinguished from fallacy—even if, in practice, only an approximation can be made. According to the Stoics, the senses constantly receive sensations: pulsations that pass from objects through the senses to the mind, where they leave an impression in the imagination (phantasiai) (an impression arising from the mind was called a phantasma). [25]

The mind has the ability to judge (συγκατάθεσις, synkatathesis)—approve or reject—an impression, enabling it to distinguish a true representation of reality from one that is false. Some impressions can be assented to immediately, but others can achieve only varying degrees of hesitant approval, which can be labeled belief or opinion ( doxa ). It is only through reason that we gain clear comprehension and conviction ( katalepsis ). Certain and true knowledge ( episteme ), achievable by the Stoic sage, can be attained only by verifying the conviction with the expertise of one's peers and the collective judgment of humankind.

Physics

According to the Stoics, the Universe is a material reasoning substance ( logos ), which was divided into two classes: the active and the passive. [26] The passive substance is matter, which "lies sluggish, a substance ready for any use, but sure to remain unemployed if no one sets it in motion". [27] The active substance is an intelligent aether or primordial fire, which acts on the passive matter:

The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul; it is this same world's guiding principle, operating in mind and reason, together with the common nature of things and the totality that embraces all existence; then the foreordained might and necessity of the future; then fire and the principle of aether; then those elements whose natural state is one of flux and transition, such as water, earth, and air; then the sun, the moon, the stars; and the universal existence in which all things are contained.

— Chrysippus, in Cicero, De Natura Deorum , i. 39
Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic Roman emperor L'Image et le Pouvoir - Buste cuirasse de Marc Aurele age - 3.jpg
Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic Roman emperor

Everything is subject to the laws of Fate, for the Universe acts according to its own nature, and the nature of the passive matter it governs. The souls of humans and animals are emanations from this primordial Fire, and are, likewise, subject to Fate:

Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things that exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the structure of the web.

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations , iv. 40

Individual souls are perishable by nature, and can be "transmuted and diffused, assuming a fiery nature by being received into the seminal reason ("logos spermatikos") of the Universe". [28] Since right Reason is the foundation of both humanity and the universe.

Stoic theology is a fatalistic and naturalistic pantheism: God is never fully transcendent but always immanent, and identified with Nature. Abrahamic religions personalize God as a world-creating entity, but Stoicism equates God with the totality of the universe; according to Stoic cosmology, which is very similar to the Hindu conception of existence, there is no absolute start to time, as it is considered infinite and cyclic. Similarly, space and the Universe have neither start nor end, rather they are cyclical. The current Universe is a phase in the present cycle, preceded by an infinite number of Universes, doomed to be destroyed ("ekpyrōsis", conflagration) and re-created again, [29] and to be followed by another infinite number of Universes. Stoicism considers all existence as cyclical, the cosmos as eternally self-creating and self-destroying (see also Eternal return).

Stoicism does not posit a beginning or end to the Universe. [30] According to the Stoics, the logos was the active reason or anima mundi pervading and animating the entire Universe. It was conceived as material and is usually identified with God or Nature. The Stoics also referred to the seminal reason ("logos spermatikos"), or the law of generation in the Universe, which was the principle of the active reason working in inanimate matter. Humans, too, each possess a portion of the divine logos, which is the primordial Fire and reason that controls and sustains the Universe. [31]

A bust of Seneca, a Stoic philosopher from the Roman empire who served as an adviser to Nero Seneca-berlinantikensammlung-1.jpg
A bust of Seneca, a Stoic philosopher from the Roman empire who served as an adviser to Nero

Ethics

The foundation of Stoic ethics is that good lies in the state of the soul itself, in wisdom and self-control. One must therefore strive to be free of the passions. For the Stoics, reason meant using logic and understanding the processes of nature—the logos or universal reason, inherent in all things. [32] The Greek word pathos was a wide-ranging term indicating an infliction one suffers. [33] The Stoics used the word to discuss many common emotions such as anger, fear and excessive joy. [34] A passion is a disturbing and misleading force in the mind which occurs because of a failure to reason correctly. [33]

For the Stoic Chrysippus, the passions are evaluative judgements. [35] A person experiencing such an emotion has incorrectly valued an indifferent thing. [36] A fault of judgement, some false notion of good or evil, lies at the root of each passion. [37] Incorrect judgement as to a present good gives rise to delight, while lust is a wrong estimate about the future. [37] Unreal imaginings of evil cause distress about the present, or fear for the future. [37] The ideal Stoic would instead measure things at their real value, [37] and see that the passions are not natural. [38] To be free of the passions is to have a happiness which is self-contained. [38] There would be nothing to fear—for unreason is the only evil; no cause for anger—for others cannot harm you. [38]

Passions

The Stoics arranged the passions under four headings: distress, pleasure, fear and lust. [39] One report of the Stoic definitions of these passions appears in the treatise On Passions by Pseudo-Andronicus (trans. Long & Sedley, pg. 411, modified):

  • Distress (lupē): Distress is an irrational contraction, or a fresh opinion that something bad is present, at which people think it right to be depressed.
  • Fear (phobos): Fear is an irrational aversion, or avoidance of an expected danger.
  • Lust (epithumia): Lust is an irrational desire, or pursuit of an expected good but in reality bad.
  • Delight (hēdonē): Delight is an irrational swelling, or a fresh opinion that something good is present, at which people think it right to be elated.
 PresentFuture
GoodDelightLust
EvilDistressFear

Two of these passions (distress and delight) refer to emotions currently present, and two of these (fear and lust) refer to emotions directed at the future. [39] Thus there are just two states directed at the prospect of good and evil, but subdivided as to whether they are present or future: [40] Numerous subdivisions of the same class were brought under the head of the separate passions: [41]

The wise person (sophos) is someone who is free from the passions ( apatheia ). Instead the sage experiences good-feelings (eupatheia) which are clear-headed. [42] These emotional impulses are not excessive, but nor are they diminished emotions. [43] [44] Instead they are the correct rational emotions. [44] The Stoics listed the good-feelings under the headings of joy (chara), wish (boulesis), and caution (eulabeia). [36] Thus if something is present which is a genuine good, then the wise person experiences an uplift in the soul—joy (chara). [45] The Stoics also subdivided the good-feelings: [46]

  • Joy: Enjoyment, Cheerfulness, Good spirits
  • Wish: Good intent, Goodwill, Welcoming, Cherishing, Love
  • Caution: Moral shame, Reverence

Suicide

The Stoics accepted that suicide was permissible for the wise person in circumstances that might prevent them from living a virtuous life, [47] such as if they fell victim to severe pain or disease, [47] but otherwise suicide would usually be seen as a rejection of one's social duty. [48] For example, Plutarch reports that accepting life under tyranny would have compromised Cato's self-consistency (constantia) as a Stoic and impaired his freedom to make the honorable moral choices. [49]

Love and sexuality

Early Stoics differed significantly from late Stoics in their views of sexuality, romantic love and sexual relationships. [50] Zeno first advocated for a republic ruled by love and not by law, where marriage would be abolished, wives would be held in common, and eroticism would be practiced with both boys and girls with educative purposes, to develop virtue in the loved ones. [50] [51] However, he did not condemn marriage per se, considering it equally a natural occurrence. [50] He regarded same sex relationships positively, and maintained that wise men should "have carnal knowledge no less and no more of a favorite than of a non-favorite, nor of a female than of a male." [51] [52]

Zeno favored love over desire, clarifying that the ultimate goal of sexuality should be virtue and friendship. [51] Among later stoics, Epictetus maintained homosexual and heterosexual sex as equivalent in this field, [52] and condemned only the kind of desire that led one to act against judgement. However, contemporaneous positions generally advanced towards equating sexuality with passion, and although they were still not hostile to sexual relationships by themselves, they nonetheless believed those should be limited in order to retain self-control. [50] [52] Musonius espoused the only natural kind of sex was that meant for procreation, defending a companionate form of marriage between man and woman, [50] and considered relationships solely undergone for pleasure or affection as unnatural. [52]

Legacy

Neoplatonism

Plotinus criticized both Aristotle's Categories and those of the Stoics. His student Porphyry, however, defended Aristotle's scheme. He justified this by arguing that they be interpreted strictly as expressions, rather than as metaphysical realities. The approach can be justified, at least in part, by Aristotle's own words in The Categories. Boethius' acceptance of Porphyry's interpretation led to their being accepted by Scholastic philosophy.[ citation needed ]

Christianity

The Fathers of the Church regarded Stoicism as a "pagan philosophy"; [53] [54] nonetheless, early Christian writers employed some of the central philosophical concepts of Stoicism. Examples include the terms "logos", "virtue", "Spirit", and "conscience". [30] But the parallels go well beyond the sharing and borrowing of terminology. Both Stoicism and Christianity assert an inner freedom in the face of the external world, a belief in human kinship with Nature or God, a sense of the innate depravity—or "persistent evil"—of humankind, [30] and the futility and temporary nature of worldly possessions and attachments. Both encourage Ascesis with respect to the passions and inferior emotions, such as lust, and envy, so that the higher possibilities of one's humanity can be awakened and developed. Stoic influence can also be seen in the works of Ambrose of Milan, Marcus Minucius Felix, and Tertullian. [55]

Modern

The modern usage is a "person who represses feelings or endures patiently". [56] The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 's entry on Stoicism notes, "the sense of the English adjective 'stoical' is not utterly misleading with regard to its philosophical origins". [57]

The revival of Stoicism in the 20th century can be traced to the publication of Problems in Stoicism [58] [59] by A. A. Long in 1971, and also as part of the late 20th-century surge of interest in virtue ethics. Contemporary Stoicism draws from the late 20th- and early 21st-century spike in publications of scholarly works on ancient Stoicism. Beyond that, the current Stoicist movement traces its roots to the work of Albert Ellis, who developed rational emotive behavior therapy, [60] as well as Aaron T. Beck, who is regarded by many as the father to early versions of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Psychology and psychotherapy

Stoic philosophy was the original philosophical inspiration for modern cognitive psychotherapy, particularly as mediated by Albert Ellis' Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), the major precursor of CBT. The original cognitive therapy treatment manual for depression by Aaron T. Beck et al. states, "The philosophical origins of cognitive therapy can be traced back to the Stoic philosophers". [61] A well-known quotation from Enchiridion of Epictetus was taught to most clients during the initial session of traditional REBT by Ellis and his followers: "It's not the events that upset us, but our judgments about the events." [62]

This subsequently became a common element in the socialization phase of many other approaches to CBT. The question of Stoicism's influence on modern psychotherapy, particularly REBT and CBT, was described in detail in The Philosophy of Cognitive–Behavioural Therapy by Donald Robertson. [62] Several early 20th-century psychotherapists were influenced by Stoicism, most notably the "rational persuasion" school founded by the Swiss neurologist and psychotherapist Paul Dubois, who drew heavily on Stoicism in his clinical work and encouraged his clients to study passages from Seneca the Younger as homework assignments.

Similarities of modern Stoicism and third-wave CBT have been suggested as well, and individual reports of its potency in treating depression have been published. [63] There has also been interest in applying the tenets of ancient Stoicism to the human origin story, [64] environmental education, [65] vegetarianism [66] and the modern challenges of sustainable development, material consumption and consumerism. [67] [68] [69]

Seamus Mac Suibhne has described the practices of spiritual exercises as influencing those of reflective practice. [70] Many parallels between Stoic spiritual exercises and modern cognitive behavioral therapy have been identified. [62] According to philosopher Pierre Hadot, philosophy for a Stoic is not just a set of beliefs or ethical claims; it is a way of life involving constant practice and training (or "askēsis"), an active process of constant practice and self-reminder. Epictetus in his Discourses , distinguished between three types of act: judgment, desire, and inclination. [71] which Hadot identifies these three acts with logic, physics and ethics respectively. [72] Hadot writes that in the Meditations, "Each maxim develops either one of these very characteristic topoi [i.e., acts], or two of them or three of them." [73]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epictetus</span> Greek Stoic philosopher (c. 50–c. 135)

Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born into slavery at Hierapolis, Phrygia and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece, where he spent the rest of his life. His teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses and Enchiridion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zeno of Citium</span> Hellenistic philosopher, founder of Stoicism (c. 334–c. 262 BC)

Zeno of Citium was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium, Cyprus. He was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. Based on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of virtue in accordance with nature. It proved very popular, and flourished as one of the major schools of philosophy from the Hellenistic period through to the Roman era, and enjoyed revivals in the Renaissance as Neostoicism and in the current era as Modern Stoicism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chrysippus</span> Greek Stoic philosopher (c.279–c.206 BC)

Chrysippus of Soli was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes. When Cleanthes died, around 230 BC, Chrysippus became the third head of the Stoic school. A prolific writer, Chrysippus expanded the fundamental doctrines of Cleanthes' mentor Zeno of Citium, the founder and first head of the school, which earned him the title of the Second Founder of Stoicism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Posidonius</span> Greek Stoic philosopher (c.135 – c.51 BC)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleanthes</span> 3rd-century BC Greek philosopher

Cleanthes, of Assos, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and boxer who was the successor to Zeno of Citium as the second head (scholarch) of the Stoic school in Athens. Originally a boxer, he came to Athens where he took up philosophy, listening to Zeno's lectures. He supported himself by working as a water-carrier at night. After the death of Zeno, c. 262 BC, he became the head of the school, a post he held for the next 32 years. Cleanthes successfully preserved and developed Zeno's doctrines. He originated new ideas in Stoic physics, and developed Stoicism in accordance with the principles of materialism and pantheism. Among the fragments of Cleanthes' writings which have come down to us, the largest is a Hymn to Zeus. His pupil was Chrysippus who became one of the most important Stoic thinkers.

<i>Ataraxia</i> Concept in Hellenistic philosophy

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Aristo of Chios, also spelled Ariston, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and colleague of Zeno of Citium. He outlined a system of Stoic philosophy that was, in many ways, closer to earlier Cynic philosophy. He rejected the logical and physical sides of philosophy endorsed by Zeno and emphasized ethics. Although agreeing with Zeno that Virtue was the supreme good, he rejected the idea that morally indifferent things such as health and wealth could be ranked according to whether they are naturally preferred. An important philosopher in his day, his views were eventually marginalized by Zeno's successors.

Stoic passions are various forms of emotional suffering in Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy.

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<i>Discourses of Epictetus</i> Informal lectures by Stoic philosopher Epictetus

The Discourses of Epictetus are a series of informal lectures by the Stoic philosopher Epictetus written down by his pupil Arrian around 108 AD. Four books out of an original eight are still extant. The philosophy of Epictetus is intensely practical. He directs his students to focus attention on their opinions, anxieties, passions, and desires, so that "they may never fail to get what they desire, nor fall into what they avoid." True education lies in learning to distinguish what is our own from what does not belong to us, and in learning to correctly assent or dissent to external impressions. The purpose of his teaching was to make people free and happy.

Glossary of terms commonly found in Stoic philosophy.

This page is a list of topics in ancient philosophy.

Pneuma is an ancient Greek word for "breath", and in a religious context for "spirit" or "soul". It has various technical meanings for medical writers and philosophers of classical antiquity, particularly in regard to physiology, and is also used in Greek translations of ruachרוח in the Hebrew Bible, and in the Greek New Testament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynicism (philosophy)</span> Ancient school of philosophy

Cynicism is a school of thought in ancient Greek philosophy, originating in the Classical period and extending into the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods. According to Cynicism, people are reasoning animals and the purpose of life and the way to gain happiness is to achieve virtue, in agreement with nature, following one's natural sense of reason by living simply and shamelessly free from social constraints. The Cynics rejected all conventional desires for wealth, power, glory, social recognition, conformity, and worldly possessions and even flouted such conventions openly and derisively in public.

A sage, in classical philosophy, is someone who has attained wisdom. The term has also been used interchangeably with a 'good person', and a 'virtuous person'. Among the earliest accounts of the sage begin with Empedocles' Sphairos. Horace describes the Sphairos as "Completely within itself, well-rounded and spherical, so that nothing extraneous can adhere to it, because of its smooth and polished surface." Alternatively, the sage is one who lives "according to an ideal which transcends the everyday."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoic physics</span> Natural philosophy of the Stoic philosophers

Stoic physics refers to the natural philosophy of the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome which they used to explain the natural processes at work in the universe.

Stoic logic is the system of propositional logic developed by the Stoic philosophers in ancient Greece.

<i>De Ira</i> Essay by Seneca

De Ira is a Latin work by Seneca. The work defines and explains anger within the context of Stoic philosophy, and offers therapeutic advice on what to do to prevent anger.

On Passions, also translated as On Emotions or On Affections, is a work by the Greek Stoic philosopher Chrysippus dating from the 3rd-century BCE. The book has not survived intact, but around seventy fragments from the work survive in a polemic written against it in the 2nd-century CE by the philosopher-physician Galen. In addition Cicero summarises substantial portions of the work in his 1st-century BCE work Tusculan Disputations. On Passions consisted of four books; of which the first three discussed the Stoic theory of emotions and the fourth book discussed therapy and had a separate title—Therapeutics. Most surviving quotations come from Books 1 and 4, although Galen also provides an account of Book 2 drawn from the 1st-century BCE Stoic philosopher Posidonius. Little or nothing is known about Book 3.

References

  1. ↑ Jason Lewis Saunders. "Stoicism". Britannica. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  2. ↑ Sharpe, Matthew, Stoic Virtue Ethics Archived 13 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine , Handbook of Virtue Ethics, 2013, 28–41
  3. ↑ John Sellars. Stoicism, 2006, p. 32.
  4. ↑ Becker, Lawrence C. (2001). A New Stoicism. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-1400822447. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  5. ↑ Becker, Lawrence (2003). A History of Western Ethics. New York: Routledge. p. 27. ISBN   978-0415968256.
  6. ↑ Robertson, Donald (2018). Stoicism and the Art of Happiness. Great Britain: John Murray.
  7. ↑ "Chrysippus | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy". Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  8. ↑ Amos, H. (1982). These Were the Greeks. Chester Springs: Dufour Editions. ISBN   978-0802312754. OCLC   9048254.
  9. ↑ Gilbert Murray, The Stoic Philosophy (1915), p. 25. In Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (1946).
  10. ↑ Sedley, D. (2003) The School, from Zeno to Arius Didymus. In: B. Inwood (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics. Cambridge University Press.
  11. ↑ A.A.Long, Hellenistic Philosophy, p. 115.
  12. ↑ Long, A.A.; Sedley, D.N. (1987). The Hellenistic Philosophers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 160.
  13. ↑ Aetius, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, 2.35
  14. ↑ Long, A.A.; Sedley, D.N. (1987). The Hellenistic Philosophers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 161. ISBN   9780521255615. OCLC   13004576.
  15. 1 2 Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy, p. 254
  16. 1 2 Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy, p. 264
  17. ↑ Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy, p. 253.
  18. ↑ Charles Hartshorne and William Reese, "Philosophers Speak of God," Humanity Books, 1953 ch 4
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  22. ↑ Marcelo D. Boeri, The Stoics on Bodies and Incorporeals, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Jun., 2001), pp. 723–752
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  25. ↑ Diogenes Laërtius (2000). Lives of eminent philosophers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. VII.49
  26. ↑ Karamanolis, George E. (2013). "Free will and divine providence". The Philosophy of Early Christianity. Ancient Philosophies (1st ed.). New York and London: Routledge. p. 151. ISBN   978-1844655670. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  27. ↑ Seneca, Epistles, lxv. 2.
  28. ↑ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, iv. 21.
  29. ↑ Michael Lapidge, Stoic Cosmology, in: John M. Rist, The Stoics, Cambridge University Press, 1978, pp. 182–183.
  30. 1 2 3 Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. 2003, p. 368.
  31. ↑ Tripolitis, A., Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age, pp. 37–38. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
  32. ↑ Graver, Margaret (2009). Stoicism and Emotion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN   978-0226305585. OCLC   430497127.
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  37. 1 2 3 4 Capes 1880 , p. 47
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Further reading

Primary sources

  • Cicero, Marcus Tullius (1945 c. 1927). Cicero : Tusculan Disputations (Loeb Classical Library, No. 141) 2nd ed. trans. by J. E. King. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard UP.
  • Long, A. A., Sedley, D. N. (1987). The Hellenistic Philosophers: vol. 1. translations of the principal sources with philosophical commentary. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  • Inwood, Brad & Gerson Lloyd P. (eds.) The Stoics Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia Indianapolis: Hackett 2008.

Seneca

  • Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (transl. Robin Campbell), Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium (1969, reprint 2004) ISBN   0140442103

Epictetus

  • Long, George Enchiridion by Epictetus, Prometheus Books, Reprint ed., January 1955.
  • Gill C. Epictetus, The Discourses, Everyman 1995.
  • Harvard University Press Epictetus Discourses Books 1 and 2, Loeb Classical Library Nr. 131, June 1925.
  • Harvard University Press Epictetus Discourses Books 3 and 4, Loeb Classical Library Nr. 218, June 1928.

Marcus Aurelius

Fragment collections

Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta is a collection by Hans von Arnim of fragments and testimonia of the earlier Stoics, published in 1903–1905 as part of the Bibliotheca Teubneriana. It includes the fragments and testimonia of Zeno of Citium, Chrysippus and their immediate followers. At first the work consisted of three volumes, to which Maximilian Adler in 1924 added a fourth, containing general indices. Teubner reprinted the whole work in 1964.

  • Volume 1 – Fragments of Zeno and his followers
  • Volume 2 – Logical and physical fragments of Chrysippus
  • Volume 3 – Ethical fragments of Chrysippus and some fragments of his pupils
  • Volume 4 – Indices of words, proper names and sources

Studies

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