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Stoicism

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Philosophy

   A restored Stoa in Athens.
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   A restored Stoa in Athens.

   'Stoicism is a school of philosophy, the founding of which is
   associated Zeno of Citium, which became the foremost popular philosophy
   among the educated elite in the Greco-Roman Empire, to the point where,
   in the words of Gilbert Murray, "nearly all the successors of Alexander
   [...] professed themselves Stoics." It teaches that self-control,
   fortitude and detachment from distracting emotions, sometimes
   interpreted as an indifference to pleasure or pain, allows one to
   become a clear thinker, level-headed and unbiased. A primary aspect of
   Stoicism would be described as improving the individual’s spiritual
   well-being.

   Virtue, reason, and natural law are prime directives. By mastering
   passions and emotions, stoics believe it is possible to overcome the
   discord of the outside world and find peace within oneself. Stoicism
   holds that passion distorts truth, and that the pursuit of truth is
   virtuous. Greek philosophers such as Cleanthes, Chrysippus, and later
   Roman thinkers such as Cicero, Seneca the Younger, Marcus Aurelius,
   Cato the Younger, Dio Chrysostom, and Epictetus are associated with
   Stoicism. In Cicero's case, it should be emphasised that while he
   shared many of the moral tenets of Stoicism, he was not a Stoic himself
   but an eclectic. Stoic philosophy is usually contrasted with
   Epicureanism.

History

   Zeno of Citium
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   Zeno of Citium

   Stoicism first appeared in Athens in the Hellenistic period around 301
   BC and was introduced by Zeno of Citium. He taught in the famous stoa
   poikile (the painted porch) from which his philosophy got its name.
   Central to his teachings was the law of morality being the same as
   nature. During its initial phase, Stoicism was generally seen as a
   back-to-nature movement critical of superstitions and taboos. The
   philosophical detachment also encompassed pain and misfortune, good or
   bad experiences, as well as life or death. Zeno often challenged
   prohibitions, traditions and customs. Another tenet was the emphasis
   placed on love for all other beings.

   His ideas developed from those of the Cynics, whose founding father,
   Antisthenes, had been a disciple of Socrates. Zeno's most influential
   follower was Chrysippus, who was responsible for the molding of what we
   now call Stoicism.

   The Stoics provided a unified account of the world, consisting of
   formal logic, materialistic physics and naturalistic ethics. Of these,
   they emphasized ethics as the main focus of human knowledge, though
   their logical theories were to be of more interest for many later
   philosophers. Later Roman Stoics focused on promoting a life in harmony
   within the universe, over which one has no direct control. Modern
   philosophy, contrary to original stoicism, often associates stoicism
   with determinism, as opposed to the Arminian doctrine of free will.

Stoic ethics and virtues

   The ancient Stoics are often misunderstood because the terms they used
   pertained to different concepts in the past than they do presently. The
   word stoic has come to mean unemotional or indifferent to pain, because
   Stoic ethics taught freedom from passion by following reason. But the
   Stoics did not seek to extinguish emotions, only to avoid emotional
   troubles by developing clear judgment and inner calm through diligent
   practice of logic, reflection, and concentration.

   Borrowing from the Cynics, the foundation of Stoic ethics is that good
   lies in the state of the soul itself; in wisdom and self-control. Stoic
   ethics stressed the rule: "Follow where reason leads." One must
   therefore strive to be free of the passions, bearing in mind that the
   ancient meaning of passion was "anguish" or "suffering" —somewhat
   different to the modern use of the word. A distinction was made between
   pathos (plural patheia) which is normally translated as "passion",
   propathos or instinctive reaction (e.g. turning pale and trembling when
   confronted by physical danger) and eupathos, which is the mark of the
   Stoic sage (sophos). The eupatheia are feelings resulting from correct
   judgment in the same way as the passions result from incorrect
   judgment.

   The idea was to be free of suffering (which the Stoics called passion)
   through apatheia (απαθεια) (Greek) or apathy, where apathy was
   understood in the ancient sense—being objective or having "clear
   judgment"—rather than simple indifference, as apathy implies today. The
   Stoic concepts of passion and apatheia are analogous to the Buddhist
   noble truths; All life has suffering ( Dukkha), suffering is rooted in
   passion and desire ( Samudaya), meditation and virtue can free one from
   suffering ( Nirodha and Marga). It is also analogous to the concepts in
   Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, which stresses rising above the
   dualities such as pleasure-pain, win-lose, to perform one's duties.

   For the Stoics reason meant not only using logic, but also
   understanding the processes of nature—the logos, or universal reason,
   inherent in all things. Living according to reason and virtue, they
   held, is to live in harmony with the divine order of the universe, in
   recognition of the common reason and essential value of all people. The
   four cardinal virtues of the Stoic philosophy are wisdom (Sophia),
   courage (Andreia), justice (Dikaiosyne), and temperance (Sophrosyne), a
   classification derived from the teachings of Plato.

   Following Socrates, the Stoics held that unhappiness and evil are the
   results of ignorance. If someone is unkind, it is because they are
   unaware of their own universal reason. Likewise, if they are unhappy,
   it is because they have forgotten how nature actually functions. The
   solution to evil and unhappiness then, is the practice of stoic
   philosophy—to examine one's own judgements and behaviour and determine
   where they have diverged from the universal reason of nature.

Spiritual exercise

   Marcus Aurelius
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                               Marcus Aurelius

   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
   askesis, see ascetic). Stoic philosophical and spiritual practices
   included logic, Socratic dialogue and self-dialogue, contemplation of
   death, training attention to remain in the present moment (similar to
   some forms of Eastern meditation), daily reflection on everyday
   problems & possible solutions, and so on. Philosophy for a Stoic is an
   active process of constant practice and self-reminder.

   In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius defines several such practices. For
   example, in Book II, part 1:

          "Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today
          ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All
          of these things have come upon them through ignorance of real
          good and ill... I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no
          man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman
          or hate him; for we have come into the world to work
          together..."

Brotherhood

   A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism. All people
   are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should, according to
   the Stoics, live in brotherly love and readily help one another. They
   held that external differences such as rank and wealth are of no
   importance in social relationships. Thus, before the rise of
   Christianity, Stoics recognized and advocated the brotherhood of
   humanity and the natural equality of all human beings. Stoicism became
   the most influential school of the Graeco–Roman world, and produced a
   number of remarkable writers and personalities, such as Cato the
   Younger and Epictetus.

   In particular, they were noted for their urging of clemency toward
   slaves. Seneca exhorted, "Kindly remember that he whom you call your
   slave sprang from the same stock, is smiled upon by the same skies, and
   on equal terms with yourself breathes, lives, and dies."

Stoicism's influence on Christianity

   Although Stoicism was considered by many early Fathers of the Church to
   be a part of the philosophical decline of the ancient world, many of
   its elements were held in high esteem, in particular, the natural law,
   which is a major part of the Roman Catholic and early American
   doctrines of secular public morality. The central Stoic idea of logos
   strongly influenced Christian theology, in particular, identifying
   Christ with the logos (see John 1). The Stoic definition of virtue as
   the conformance of the will to the rational order of the world has
   parallels with traditional Christian morality. The Stoic
   cosmopolitanism influenced Augustine of Hippo's concept of the City of
   God. Stoicism influenced the Christian Boethius in his Consolation of
   Philosophy, a book which promotes Christian morality via secular
   philosophy; this book was highly influential in the Middle Ages.

Modern Usage

   The word "stoic" now commonly refers to someone indifferent to pain,
   pleasure, grief, or joy. The modern usage as "person who represses
   feelings or endures patiently" is first cited in 1579 as a noun, and
   1596 as an adjective. In contrast to the term " epicurean", 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."

Quotations

   Collection of various Stoic quotes:

   Epictetus:
     * "First, decide who you would be. Then, do what you must do."
     * "When I see a man in a state of anxiety, I say, What can this man
       want? If he did not want something which is not in his power, how
       could he still be anxious?"
     * "Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of one's desires, but by
       the removal of desire."
     * "Nothing outside the will can hinder or harm the will; it can only
       harm itself. If then we accept this, and, when things go amiss, are
       inclined to blame ourselves, remembering that judgment alone can
       disturb our peace and constancy, I swear to you by all the gods
       that we have made progress."
     * "If you would not fail of what you seek, or incur what you shun,
       desire nothing that belongs to others; shun nothing that lies
       beyond your own control; otherwise you must necessarily be
       disappointed in what you seek, and incur what you shun."
     * "In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of
       this kind, is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action,
       but our opinions and the decisions of our will."
     * "Where is the good? In the will. Where is the evil? In the will.
       Where is neither of them? In those things which are independent of
       the will."
     * "Who then is the invincible? It is he whom none of the things
       disturb which are independent of the will."
     * "Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of
       them."
     * "No man is free who is not master of himself."
     * "Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me
       here, not on account of the place, but of my judgments which I
       shall carry away with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on
       the contrary, they alone are my property, and cannot be taken away,
       and to possess them suffices me wherever I am or whatever I do."
     * "I am formed by nature for my own good: I am not formed for my own
       evil."
     * "If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy
       by reason of himself alone."
     * "Every person must deal with each thing according to the opinion
       that he holds about it."
     * "Permit nothing to cleave to you that is not your own; nothing to
       grow to you that may give you agony when it is torn away."
     * "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has
       not, but rejoices for those which he has."
     * "God is best worshiped in the shrine of the heart by the desire to
       know and obey him."

   Marcus Aurelius:
     * "It loved to happen."
     * "The universe is in change, life is an opinion."
     * "Get rid of the judgment ... get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are
       rid of the hurt itself."
     * "The mind in itself wants nothing, unless it creates a want for
       itself; therefore it is both free from perturbation and unimpeded,
       if it does not perturb and impede itself."
     * "Everything is right for me, which is right for you, O Universe.
       Nothing for me is too early or too late, which comes in due time
       for you. Everything is fruit to me which your seasons bring, O
       Nature. From you are all things, in you are all things, to you all
       things return."
     * "Let there be freedom from perturbation with respect to the things
       which come from external causes, and in actions whose cause lies in
       yourself, be just; that is, let impulse and action terminate in
       social acts, for this is according to your nature."
     * "If you are distressed by any external thing, it is not this thing
       which disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in
       your power to wipe out that judgment now."
     * "Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to
       bear."
     * "It is in our power to refrain from any opinion about things and
       not to be disturbed in our souls; for things in themselves have no
       natural power to force our judgments."
     * "If you work at that which is before you, following right reason
       seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to
       distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you were
       bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting
       nothing, but satisfied to live now according to nature, speaking
       heroic truth in every word which you utter, you will live happy.
       And there is no man able to prevent this."
     * "Everywhere and at all times it is in your power to accept
       reverently your present condition, to behave justly to those about
       you, and to exert your skill to control your thoughts, that nothing
       shall steal into them without being well examined."
     * "How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which
       happens in life!"
     * "Outward things cannot touch the soul, not in the least degree; nor
       have they admission to the soul, nor can they turn or move the
       soul; but the soul turns and moves itself alone."
     * “Even when the mind is feeling its way cautiously and working its
       way round a problem from every angle, it is still moving directly
       onwards and making for its goal.”
     * "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to
       the thing itself but your own estimate of it; and this you have the
       power to revoke at any moment"

   Seneca:
     * "The point is, not how long you live, but how nobly you live."
     * "That which Fortune has not given, she cannot take away."
     * "Let Nature deal with matter, which is her own, as she pleases; let
       us be cheerful and brave in the face of everything, reflecting that
       it is nothing of our own that perishes."
     * "The soul should know whither it is going and whence it came, what
       is good for it and what is evil, what it seeks and what it avoids,
       and what is that Reason which distinguishes between the desirable
       and the undesirable, and thereby tames the madness of our desires
       and calms the violence of our fears."
     * "Virtue is nothing else than right reason."

Books

   Primary Sources
     * A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers
       (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987)
     * Brennan T. Brittain C. Epictetus, Discourses and Other Writings,
       Cambridge University Press, April 2004.
     * 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.
     * Gill C. Epictetus, The Discourses, Everyman 1995.
     * Long George Enchiridion by Epictetus, Prometheus Books, Reprint
       Edition, January 1955.
     * Long George Discourses of Epictetus, Kessinger Publishing, January
       2004.
     * Moses Hadas (ed.), Essential Works of Stoicism (1961: Bantam)
     * Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (transl. Robin Campbell), Letters
       from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium (2004) ISBN
       0-14-044210-3
     * Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations, translated by Maxwell
       Staniforth; ISBN 0-14-044140-9, or translated by Gregory Hays; ISBN
       0-679-64260-9.
     * Oates Whitney Jenning The Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, The
       Complete Extant Writings of Erpicurus, Epictetus, Lucretius and
       Marcus Aurelius, Random House, 9th printing 1940.

   Studies
     * John Sellars, Stoicism (Berkeley: University of California Press,
       2006)
     * Brad Inwood, ed., The Cambridge Companion to The Stoics (Cambridge:
       Cambridge University Press, 2003)
     * Bakalis Nikolaos, Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the
       Stoics Analysis and Fragments, Trafford Publishing, May 2005, ISBN
       1-4120-4843-5
     * A. A. Long, Stoic Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1996; repr.
       University of California Press, 2001)
     * Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from
       Socrates to Foucault, Blackwell, 1995, ISBN 0-631-18033-8
     * Steven Strange (ed.), Stoicism: Traditions and Transformations
       (2004) ISBN 0-521-82709-4
     * Lawrence C. Becker, A New Stoicism 1998 ISBN 0-691-01660-7
     * Vlassis G. Rassias, "Theois Syzen. Eisagoge ston Stoicismo",
       Athens, 2001, ISBN 960-7748-25-5

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