The Stoics

The Major Philosophers of Stoicism

The major philosophers of Stoicism we will focus on are the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Roman slave Epictetus, and the Roman statesman Seneca. Stoicism, much like most Western philosophy, started in ancient Greece, but the best-preserved texts come from the Romans, who were powerfully influenced by Stoic thought.

The Philosophy

The Pursuit of Eudaimôn (The Good Life)

Focus on What You Control

• In Enchirdon, Epicetus asked perhaps the fundamental question of stoicism. We should always be asking ourselves “is this something that is or is not in my control?”
• Stoics believed that it was critical to recognize the things we control and the things we do not. This will give us the ability to focus on those we can and the wisdom to endure those we cannot. Later Stoics divided these into three areas of influence:
  • High: our choices, judgments, and actions
  • Partial: health, wealth, relationships, outcomes of our behaviors
  • None: almost everything else, from our genetic makeup to the weather.

Focus on the Process, Not the Outcome

Epictetus: “Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us.”

• Stoics argue that our focus should be on excellence in our preparations and actions, not on the results that come from them.
• The outcome of our actions will never be wholly in our power, but our actions and preparation are.
• Many Stoics return to a metaphor of an archer to explain this concept. An archer cannot control whether the wind will move his shot, his finger slip, or even if the bow will break, but he can control his preparation, training, emotions, and the quality of his equipment.
• From the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: “The Stoic archer strives to shoot excellently, and will not be disappointed if she shoots well but fails to hit the center of the target. And so it is in life generally.”
• For us and the archer, the aim is to ensure we act with kathēkon which translates into “right action.” Just as the archer hoping to hit the target should engage in all the right actions to do so, those of us who want health, wealth, security, friendship, the esteem of our peers should focus on the right actions to achieve them while recognizing that we may not reach our goals. What matters is not the outcome, but our adherence to right action to achieve them.
• No event is independently good or bad. Our reaction to it is.

We Should Ignore What Others Think Of Us

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.”– Marcus Aurelius

• The Stoics rejected the idea that we should seek the opinions of others, worry about the criticism of others, or seek their approval.
• Marcus Aurelius began every day with a mantra that acknowledged he would meet people who were foolish, cruel, stupid and annoying. He did this to prepare himself for them, to steel himself so that their unvirtuous acts would not undermine his virtue.
• Stoics offered practical advice about those who annoy us because they suck up to bosses, teachers, and other people in power. If you are unwilling to pay the price (being a sycophant), how can you resent the person who is willing to?

Stoicism is About Preparation, Reason, and Reflection

• Stoics believed in practicing negative visualization, the process of thinking about the potential worst possible outcomes. By imagining the worst possible scenarios, we prepare ourselves of them, even though they are unlikely to happen.
• Stoics argued that people should not be driven by their passions, but their reason.
• They believed that while animals could not govern their passions, humans had the capacity to return to reason, but often did not.
• Even worse, humans  extend their anger, frustration, sorrow, or other emotions
• A modern interpretation of this idea can be seen in driving. A Stoic would argue that it is understandable to feel a moment of anger when someone cuts you off in traffic. Because humans are animals who have chemical reactions that cause momentary fear and anger, it’s understandable to feel that way. It’s not reasonable, however, to continue to feel anger past that initial moment and we have the power to stop.
• Stoics believed that while we should reflect on our past behavior to improve our future behavior, there was little point in thinking about past harms, shames, or failures other than as a tool for self-improvement.

Anger

“No plague has cost the human race more. We see all around us people being killed, poisoned, and sued; we see cities and nations ruined. And besides destroying cities and nations, anger can destroy us individually.”–Seneca

• In particular, anger was an emotion they rejected. Of it, Seneca wrote that it was “a temporary madness,” that while occasionally justified, is never the best way to resolve an issue.
• Seneca offers an enormous amount of practical advice to deal with anger.
  • He says we should ignore gossip and “run from those” who anger us.
  • We should believe in universal human fallibility, a remember that everyone (including us) makes mistakes and acts badly.
  • We should consider our appearance and change it. Seneca says that we literally become ugly when we are mad, which should tell us it’s wrong. We can address our anger by looking ourselves and changing our features to those of joy.

Grief

“Let your tears flow, but let them also cease, let deepest sighs be drawn from your breast, but let them also find an end.”

• The Stoics even argue that we should not grieve too much. They warn against displays of grief that seem designed more for drama than for actual processing of emotion. While sorrow is inevitable and reasonable, excessive grief is destructive.
• We should be careful not to “catch the grief” of others in our sympathy for them.
• The most powerful tool for Stoics to address grief is to simply change our thinking. Instead of grieving

The Transience of Life

“Matter. How tiny your share of it. Time. How brief and fleeting your allotment of it. Fate. How small a role you play in it.” –Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

• The Stoics wanted us to be aware that life was fleeting and that death could come at any time. Some of this was the nature of life in the ancient world. but the philosophy goes deeper: because of our lives are fleeting, we must strive for excellence while we live.