Stoicism
Tags: Virtue, Stoicism, Philosophy, Eudaimonia, Psychology

1. Introduction

Stoicism is a school of thought that was formed in the Hellenistic age in Athens. It was one of the three most notable schools at the time, besides Epicurean and Sceptic school. Its founder was Zeno of Citium, hence the original name of Stoicism was Zenonism. The name was soon dropped as later Stoics did not want the philosophy to become a cult of personality. The name, as we know it today, was derived from the “Stoa Poikile” or “painted porch”, on the north side of the Agora in Athens, where Zeno and his followers gathered to discuss their ideas. Interestingly, one can refer to Stoicism as the philosophy of The Stoa, or philosophy of The Porch.

To the average person this action-oriented, and paradigm-shifting way of living has become shorthand for “emotionlessness”. The modern usage as a “person who represses feelings or endures patiently” was first cited in 1579 as a noun and in 1596 as an adjective. However, its definition in the dictionary is not necessarily misleading to the philosophy.

Stoicism is a philosophy meant to be applied to everyday living, focused on ethics (understood as the study of how to live one’s life), which is in turn informed by what the Stoics called “physics” (nowadays, a combination of natural science and metaphysics) and what they call “logic” (a combination of modern logic, epistemology, language, and rhetoric).

2. Development

2.1 Zeno of Citium

Zeno of Citium was a Hellenistic philosopher and the founder of Stoicism. He was a wealthy merchant that despite his abundance lived a rather ascetic life. Making his way to Athens, after a voyage, he was introduced to philosophy by the Cynic philosopher Crates. He joined the Cynics and was on his way to becoming one of their spokesmen though was not capable to assimilate Cynic shamelessness. Therefore, Crates, desirous of curing this defect in him, gave him a potful of lentil-soup to carry through the Kerameikous (an area in Athens), and when he saw that Zeno was ashamed and tried to keep it out of sight, Crates broke the pot with a blow of his staff. As Zeno began to run off in embarrassment with the lentil-soup flowing down his legs, Crates chided, “Why run away, my little Phoenician? Nothing terrible has befallen you.”

Ashamed by the experience, he decided to form his school and began teaching in the colonnade in the Agora of Athens known as the Stoa Poikile in 301 BC. Influenced by the philosophers of the Megarian school (emphasis on logic), dialecticians (emphasized the factually based debate), Platonists (followers of Plato), and Cynic school of thought (emphasis on the simple life and free of emotional involvement), he formed Stoicism.

2.2 The stoas and their representatives

The chronology of Stoic initial development in the Hellenistic age is divided into three periods: the early Stoa, middle Stoa, and late Stoa. The Greek phase of the Stoa embraces the first two, while the Roman phase refers to the latter.

The early Stoa lasted from Zeno of Citium (the founder of the school, around 300 B.C.E.) to the third head of the school, Chrysippus. Chrysippus of Soli created an original system of propositional logic (it deals with propositions (which can be true or false) and relations between propositions) to better understand the workings of the universe and the role of humanity within it. He adhered to a deterministic (everything is predestined) view of fate but sought a role for personal freedom in thought and action. Chrysippus made the Stoic system what it was. It was said that “without Chrysippus, there would have been no Stoa”.

The middle Stoa included Panaetius (late II and I century B.C.E.). Panaetius was the last scholar of the Stoic school in Athens. He put more emphasis on physics than logic and ethics. He rejected the doctrine of apatheia (state of mind, where one is not distracted by passions), and instead affirmed that certain pleasurable sensations could be regarded as in accordance with nature (explained further down).

The late Stoa or the Roman Imperial period, with Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius lasted from I — II century C.E.

Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist. He became Nero’s tutor and his advisor when he ascended the throne. Certain doubts exist concerning Seneca’s lifestyle in accordance with Stoic philosophy, but non the less his credibility has held strong due to his contribution to philosophy. As a writer, Seneca is known for his philosophical works, and for his plays, which are all tragedies. His prose works include a dozen essays and one hundred twenty-four letters dealing with moral issues. These writings constitute one of the most important bodies of primary material for ancient Stoicism. Much of what we know about Stoics today, is owing to the fact of Seneca’s work. Seneca’s influence over Nero declined with time, and in 65 C.E. Seneca was forced to take his own life for alleged involvement in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero.

Epictetus was born a slave. With the permission of his wealthy owner, he studied Stoic philosophy. Obtaining freedom, he started teaching philosophy in Rome but was exiled to Greece where he arose with his school. Epictetus thought that philosophy is a way of life and not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are beyond our control; we should accept calmly and dispassionately whatever happens. However, individuals are responsible for their actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. None of his writings are known and were transcribed and compiled by his pupil Arrian. *

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor from 161–180 C.E., the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor to retain Pax Romana (time of relative peace in the Roman empire). Marcus acquired the reputation of a philosopher king within his lifetime, and the title would remain after his death. His son Commodus was a complete diametric contrary to his father who strived for peace. His reign is commonly considered to mark the end of the golden period of peace. The only work that Marcus Aurelius wrote were his Meditations that were not intended to go public. *

*(Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus believed that you do not live longer through your written work or fame, as time is proportionate with human indifference.)

In the Roman Empire, Stoicism became the predominant philosophy and Stoa ethics (way of living) are seemed to have exceeded physics and logic (the other two pillars of Stoicism).

3. The three topoi

A fundamental aspect of Stoic philosophy is the twofold idea that ethics is central to the effort, and that the study of ethics is to be supported by two other fields of inquiry, what the Stoics called logic and physics. Together, these form the three topoi of Stoicism.

Roughly, logic means the study of how to reason about the world, physics means the study of that world, and ethics how to act in the world.

One could use an allegory to transform the holistic topoi from abstraction to a more perceivable picture. Think of a garden: the fence is the Logic — defending the precious inside and defining its boundaries, the fertile soil is the Physics — providing the nutritive power by way of knowledge of the world, and the resulting fruits are the Ethics — the actual focal objective of Stoic teachings.

3.1 Logic

The term logic, that stoics used, was a much broader term as we know it today. It encompassed logic (the study of reason), the study of language and rhetoric, and epistemology (the study of knowing).

We already mentioned that Chrysippus of Soli created an original system of propositional logic. An example of such would be: If there is day, then there is light; but there is day, thus there is light and if there is day, then there is light; but there is no light, thus no day. Stoics developed such principles, in the whole system of logic, together with the rules for the derivation of complex arguments in their simpler versions.

Stoics claimed that every individual was born as a tabula rasa and perceived the objective reality as information through their experiences. Besides the sensual recognition of the objective reality, they also claimed that thoughts can be a basis for objective reality. Their theory of thoughts being as true as sensual experiences were complicated as it was based on a materialistic view of the passive nature (explained in the paragraph of Physics) that they adopted from Epicureans and Democritus. The latter viewed the world as totally materialistic and did not believe humans could experience another “real” world in their minds.

3.2 Physics

To Stoics, all reality was bodily. Everything in the universe — for them, in one world system — is caused by an active principle, the God, on a passive principle, that is matter. The matter is without any distinct quality and is inert (lacking the ability or strength to move), hence the name passive. The active substance, which can be called Fate or Universal Reason and divine order (logos) was described to be a primordial (existing from the beginning of time) fire.

For Stoics God was present in the whole universe, even more, one could say that God was the universe. Chrysippus thought that the center of God (his governing principle) is on the celestial vault (our governing principle was believed to be in our chest).

Everything is subject to the laws of Fate, for the Universe acts according to its nature, and the nature of the passive matter it governs. Humans and animals are passive matter, but our soul originates from the pantheistic God. We are a part of an entity, or to put it differently, our soul is the divinity within us. Stoics claimed that people are subjects to fate, thus declaring Stoicism as deterministic philosophy.

“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

Since reason is the foundation of both humanity and the universe it is logical to live life according to reason or according to nature.

It is worth mentioning that to Stoics existence is repetitive, meaning that the universe is ought to be destroyed and recreated again.

3.3 Ethics

Stoic ethics were not just another theoretical subject, but an eminently practical one. Indeed, especially for the later Stoics, ethics was the point of doing philosophy. In the modern era of materialistic consumption and the psychic deterioration of individuals, Stoicism has been used as an ideal to fight such difficulties and has been proven effective within behavioral psychology.

Based on physics, Stoics believed that the universe was governed and was the logos. Logos is divine order and universal reason, which means it operates with reason. People were believed to have a spark of universal reason too, which made Stoics conclude that using your reason was the best way of living your life.

Living according to nature, as Stoics viewed life should be lived, meant not obstructing or resisting the fate that one was a subject to. The best way of living according to nature was to resist passion (the word passion meant passively reacting to external events, e.g. suffering or anguish) and work in harmony with your own and universal reason. Stoic ethics stressed the rule: “Follow where reason leads”. However, Stoics did not want to deny the existence of feelings, but to control them through an ascetic lifestyle ruled by reason. They viewed feelings as a source of suffering and wanted to reach peace of mind.

They recognized and lived based on four cardinal values, which were also recognized by Plato and even adopted by Christianity: prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. Prudence or wisdom is the ability to choose rightly. Fortitude or courage signifies endurance and the ability to confront fear and uncertainties. Temperance is the ability of self-control and was considered to be the most important for Plato. Justice or fairness is the ability to act righteously.

Stoics stressed all importance on the present and claimed that you should be responsible for your actions but not burdened by actions over which you have no control.

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. “

– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

4. Conclusion

Stoicism is a philosophy I am fond of. Having read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and delving deeper into the philosophy, currently studying logic and physics, I can assure you that it is an excellent way of fighting with modern problems. It is a philosophy that neglects social inequality. Interestingly enough, Epictetus was a slave and Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man on the planet Earth, but both tried to act according to nature. It is something that we can use in the times of segregation.

Stoicism proves to be quite a practical philosophy, though not all questions can be answered by what was left of Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius. As Nietzsche said: “There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy” nothing provides more genuine and honest answers to your questions than you.