What is stoicism?
Stoicism is a school of philosophy
founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens
in the early 3rd century BC. It is
predominantly a philosophy of
personal ethics informed by its system
of logic and its views on the natural
world. Stoicism developed throughout
the Roman and Greek world until the
3rd century AD, and among its
adherents was Emperor Marcus
Aurelius. It witnessed 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).
Stoicism philolsophy
According to its teachings, as social beings, the path to happiness for humans is
found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be
controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, by using one's mind to
understand the world and to do one's part in nature's plan, and by working
together and treating others fairly and justly.
For Stoics, "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, but
have value as "material for virtue to act upon". For example, let's suppose that
you are trying to help a drug addict and they turn out to be unwilling to
cooperate. In this case, it is wiser to direct one's effort and attention towards
constructive virtues such as understanding and patience than to become
disheartened by the incidence. Thus stoicism teaches the development of self-
control and fortitude 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) and hence, to be free from negative
emotions such as anger, envy, and jealousy.
Cleanthes, a stoic philosopher, once thought that the wicked man is "like a dog
tied to a cart, and compelled to go wherever it goes". 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," thus positing a "completely
autonomous" individual will, and at the same time a universe that is "a rigidly
deterministic single whole".
Things within our control vs. the things outside our control
A very important concept of stoicism is the distinction between things that are
within one’s power and those that are not within our power. That is, there are
things that are up to us (chiefly, our judgments and actions) while other things
are not up to us (major historical events, natural phenomena, such as aging,
getting ill, etc...). One path to our happiness is to differentiate between what we
can change and what we can’t - what we have influence over and what we do
not. For the things that we cannot control, we have to be aware that it is useless
to fight an unwinnable battle. We should focus, instead, on the things that we can
control. For instance, instead of losing temper when a train is delayed because of
an accident, one has to concentrate on how to evaluate the event positively, to
one's advantage. The events that happen to us are not inherently good or bad.
However, it is within our power to decide how we value them and direct them
towards our happiness.
Epictetus, another Stoic philosopher, holds that if people expect to get everything
they want from the universe, then they are going to be disappointed. However, if
one takes whatever the universe gives and takes a positive stance about them,
then one will experience a much better and happier life.
Source: Wikipedia
Comprehension:
1. Marcus Aurelius is the founder of stoicism.
a. True
b. False
2. Stoicism holds that external things have an influence on our happiness.
a. True.
b. False.
3. One way of living a happy life is by changing the things that are outside of our
control.
a. True
b. False
