The Stoic View of Life

1. The Stoic View of Life

2. Introduction

3. Introduction • A school of the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire

4. Introduction • A school of the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire • Began with Zeno’s discourses in the ‘painted porch’ in Athens

5. Introduction • A school of the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire • Began with Zeno’s discourses in the ‘painted porch’ in Athens

6. Introduction • A school of the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire • Began with Zeno’s discourses in the ‘painted porch’ in Athens

7. Introduction • A school of the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire • Began with Zeno’s discourses in the ‘painted porch’ in Athens • Sources

8. Introduction • A school of the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire • Began with Zeno’s discourses in the ‘painted porch’ in Athens • Sources • Cicero: de Finibus (On Ends)

9. Introduction • A school of the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire • Began with Zeno’s discourses in the ‘painted porch’ in Athens • Sources • Cicero: de Finibus (On Ends) • Seneca: Moral Essays

10. Introduction • A school of the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire • Began with Zeno’s discourses in the ‘painted porch’ in Athens • Sources • Cicero: de Finibus (On Ends) • Seneca: Moral Essays • Epictetus: Enchiridion (Handbook)

11. Introduction • A school of the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire • Began with Zeno’s discourses in the ‘painted porch’ in Athens • Sources • Cicero: de Finibus (On Ends) • Seneca: Moral Essays • Epictetus: Enchiridion (Handbook) • Marcus Aurelius: Meditations

12. Background

13. Background • An age of Empires

14. Background • An age of Empires

15. Background • An age of Empires

16. Background • An age of Empires

17. Background • An age of Empires

18. Background • An age of Empires • Irrelevance of cities for values

19. Background • An age of Empires • Irrelevance of cities for values • Insignificance

20. Background • An age of Empires • Irrelevance of cities for values • Insignificance • Fatalism?

21. Background • New Schools of Thought

22. Background • New Schools of Thought • Sceptics - We can’t know anything

23. Background • New Schools of Thought • Sceptics • Epicureans - Avoid pain

24. Background • New Schools of Thought • Sceptics • Epicureans • Cyrenaics - Seek pleasure

25. Background • New Schools of Thought • Sceptics • Epicureans • Cyrenaics • Cynics - Act like a dog: be natural

26. Background • New Schools of Thought • Sceptics • Epicureans • Cyrenaics • Cynics • Stoics

27. Norms, Nature, and Law

28. Norms, Nature, and Law • To be a good thing is to be able to perform your proper function (ergon) well.

29. Norms, Nature, and Law • To be a good thing is to be able to perform your proper function (ergon) well. • To have a ‘proper function’ is a normative claim: there is a way a thing ought to be.

30. Norms, Nature, and Law • To be a good thing is to be able to perform your proper function (ergon) well. • To have a ‘proper function’ is a normative claim: there is a way a thing ought to be. • It is in the ‘nature’ of a thing.

31. Norms, Nature, and Law • To be a good thing is to be able to perform your proper function (ergon) well. • To have a ‘proper function’ is a normative claim: there is a way a thing ought to be. • It is in the ‘nature’ of a thing. • There is a ‘law’ that applies to the thing.

32. Norms, Nature, and Law • To be a good thing is to be able to perform your proper function (ergon) well. • To have a ‘proper function’ is a normative claim: there is a way a thing ought to be. • It is in the ‘nature’ of a thing. • There is a ‘law’ that applies to the thing. • There is a Law of Nature that applies to the entire universe.

33. Norms, Nature, and Law • Everything that happens in the world is according to Nature

34. Norms, Nature, and Law • Everything that happens in the world is according to Nature Welcome everything which happens, even if it seems harsh, because it contributes to the health of the universe and the well-faring and well-being of Zeus. For he would not have brought this on a man unless it had been advantageous to the whole

35. Norms, Nature, and Law • Everything that happens in the world is according to Nature Welcome everything which happens, even if it seems harsh, because it contributes to the health of the universe and the well-faring and well-being of Zeus. For he would not have brought this on a man unless it had been advantageous to the whole • NB: Zeus = Lawgiver = Law = Nature

36. Virtues and Values

37. Virtues and Values • Man is different from all other things in the world because Man is a rational animal. Man is able to act in accord with or contrary to Nature.

38. Virtues and Values • Man is different from all other things in the world because Man is a rational animal. Man is able to act in accord with or contrary to Nature. • Proper aim of Man is to perfect rationality and come into agreement with Nature.

39. Virtues and Values • Man is different from all other things in the world because Man is a rational animal. Man is able to act in accord with or contrary to Nature. • Proper aim of Man is to perfect rationality and come into agreement with Nature. • There is a path to perfection

40. Virtues and Values • Man is different from all other things in the world because Man is a rational animal. Man is able to act in accord with or contrary to Nature. • Proper aim of Man is to perfect rationality and come into agreement with Nature. • There is a path to perfection • oikeiôsis (affinity) evolves in step with perfection

41. Virtues and Values • Cicero We begin with a classification: the Stoics call “valuable” (this, I think, is the term we should use) whatever is either itself in accordance with nature, or brings about something that is. Worthy of selection, therefore, is whatever has sufficient importance to be worthy of value (value the Stoics call axia). On the other hand, they call “non-valuable” what is contrary to the above. The starting-point, therefore, is that things in accordance with nature are to be adopted for their own sake, and their contraries are likewise to be rejected.

42. Virtues and Values • Cicero With this established, the initial “appropriate action” (this is what I call the Greek kathêkon) is to preserve oneself in one’s natural constitution. The next is to take what is in accordance with nature and reject its opposite. Once this method of selection (and likewise rejection) has been discovered, selection then goes hand in hand with appropriate action. Then such selection becomes continuous, and, finally, stable and in agreement with nature. At this point that which can truly be said to be good first appears and is recognized for what it is.

43. Virtues and Values • Cicero A human being’s earliest concern is for what is in accordance with nature. But as soon as one has gained some understanding, or rather “conception” (what the Stoics call ennoia), and sees an order and as it were concordance in the things which one ought to do, one then values that concordance much more highly than those first objects of affection. Hence through learning and reason one concludes that this is the place to find the supreme human good, that good which is to be praised and sought on its own account. This good lies in what the Stoics call homologia. Let us use the term “consistency”, if you approve. Herein lies that good, namely moral action and morality itself, at which everything else ought to be directed. Though it is a later development, it is none the less the only thing to be sought in virtue of its own power and worth, whereas none of the primary objects of nature is to be sought on its own account.

44. Virtues and Values • 5 Stages to perfection

45. Virtues and Values • 5 Stages to perfection • Affinity to primary goods – food, etc.

46. Virtues and Values • 5 Stages to perfection • Affinity to primary goods – food, etc. • Affinity to non-primary things like wealth.

47. Virtues and Values • 5 Stages to perfection • Affinity to primary goods – food, etc. • Affinity to non-primary things like wealth. • ‘appropriate actions’ that are justifiable.

48. Virtues and Values • 5 Stages to perfection • Affinity to primary goods – food, etc. • Affinity to non-primary things like wealth. • ‘appropriate actions’ that are justifiable. • A continuous use of reason.

49. Virtues and Values • 5 Stages to perfection • Affinity to primary goods – food, etc. • Affinity to non-primary things like wealth. • ‘appropriate actions’ that are justifiable. • A continuous use of reason. • A complete and consistent understanding.

50. Virtues and Values • Virtue is just what the person who has achieved the perfection of wisdom would do.