GREEK PHILOSOPHY 2 | CLASS 13: FEB 2, 2015
THE STOICS: AN INTRODUCTION
DR. MICHAEL GRIFFIN
CLASSICS & PHILOSOPHY
S O C R AT E S . A R T S . U B C . C A / 2 1 2
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
W I L L I A M E R N E S T H E N L E Y, I N V I C T U S
stoic |ˈstō-ik| (n.) a person who can endure pain or
hardship without showing their feelings or
complaining.
NEW OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARY
Viri est, fortunæ cæcitatem facile ferre: Tis true;
but Stoique: where (in the vast world) Doth that
man breath, that can so much commaund His
blood and his affection?
BEN JONSON, EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOR I.I.2 (1600)
THE STOICS
MODERN EXAMPLES
A reconstruction of the Stoa Poikile. From the Athenian Agora Excavations
NELSON
MANDELA
• Served 27 years in prison,
initially under brutal
conditions
• After release in 1990,
became the first black chief
executive of South Africa;
strove to dismantle the
legacy of apartheid
• Willingly forgave his
Afrikaner captors and
oppressors
NELSON
MANDELA
• Deeply influenced by Stoicism
during his imprisonment: the
value of forgiveness and the
fellowship of man
• Modelled his autobiography
after the Meditations of the
Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius
• “The cell is an ideal place to
learn to know yourself, to search
realistically and regularly the
process of your own mind and
feelings” (Conversations 253)
NELSON
MANDELA
• “But he will be remembered for
one quality above all others: his
capacity to forgive, and to turn
that forgiveness into a visible
reconciliation. He had a
phenomenal, almost
unbelievable, ability to rise
above bitterness and rancour.” (Globe and Mail obituary)
• “As I walked out the door toward
the gate that would lead to my
freedom, I knew if I didn't leave
my bitterness and hatred behind,
I'd still be in prison.”
NELSON
MANDELA
• Stoic principles
• Forgiveness
• Differentiation of what’s in
our control and what isn’t
• Method of leading
enemies through a process
of rational growth
D. Schalkwyk, “Mandela, the Emotions,
and the Lessons of Prison,” in R. Barnard,
ed., The Cambridge Companion to
Nelson Mandela (Cambridge, 2014), 50-69
JAMES
STOCKDALE
• Endured torture as a prisoner
of war for seven and a half
years (1965-1973)
• Credited Stoicism with his
survival
• Developed a moral code for
fellow prisoners of war,
predicated on mutual
forgiveness
JAMES
STOCKDALE
• I met old Epictetus back in graduate school in 1962. It was my great luck; in
fact, it was a fluke that put us together. My favorite (philosophy) professor
gave me one of Epictetus's books as a farewell present as I left to go back
to sea. Everything I know about Epictetus I've developed myself over the
years. It's been a one-on-one relationship. He's been in combat with me,
leg irons with me, spent month-long stretches in blindfolds with me, has
been in the ropes with me, has taught me that my true business is
maintaining control over my moral purpose, in fact that my moral purpose
is who I am. He taught me that I am totally responsible for everything I do
and say; and that it is I who decides on and controls my own destruction
and own deliverance. Not even God will intercede if He sees me throwing
my life away. He wants me to be autonomous. He put me in charge of me.
"It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishment the
scroll. I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” — Stockdale on Stoicism I, 1995
MARTHA
NUSSBAUM
• American philosopher and
United Nations policy adviser
• Develops a “neo-Stoic”
description of the emotions
• Emotions are evaluative
(involve judgement)
• Anger is useless,
forgiveness is wise
THE STOICS
NEO-STOICISM
A reconstruction of the Stoa Poikile. From the Athenian Agora Excavations
Stoic Week
24-30 NOVEMBER 2014
MODERNSTOICISM.COM
NEOSTOICISM
• Last year, around 2,400 people took
part in Stoic Week worldwide.
• Participants reported a 14%
improvement in life satisfaction, a
9% increase in positive emotions
(joy increased the most of all
emotions, whilst optimism
increased by 18%) and an 11%
decrease in negative emotions. • 56% of participants gave
themselves a mark of 80% or more
when asked whether it had made
them a better person and made
them wiser.
ANCIENT STOICISM
WHO WERE THE STOICS?
A reconstruction of the Stoa Poikile. From the Athenian Agora Excavations
THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
KEY FIGURES
• Socrates (469-399 BCE)
• Crates (c. 365-285) & Hipparchia
(c. 350-280)
• Zeno of Citium (334-262)
• Chrysippus (279-206)
• Panaetius (185-110)
• Seneca (4-65 CE)
• Epictetus (55-135)
• Marcus Aurelius (121-180)
KEY FIGURES
• Socrates (469-399 BCE)
• Crates (c. 365-285) & Hipparchia
(c. 350-280)
• Zeno of Citium (334-262)
• Chrysippus (279-206)
• Panaetius (185-110)
• Seneca (4-65 CE)
• Epictetus (55-135)
• Marcus Aurelius (121-180)
H I S TO R Y
After the death of Socrates, his pupil Plato travels the
Mediterranean & returns to Athens to found the ACADEMY.
The Academy inspires a new generation of philosophical
‘schools’, which train political leaders from across the
Mediterranean. For example, Plato’s star pupil Aristotle
trains Alexander the Great.
H I S TO R Y
ALEXANDER AT THE BATTLE OF ISSUS
Beginning in 334 BCE, Alexander conquers the known world.
After his death in 323, Egypt, the Near East, and the Eastern
Mediterranean are consolidated into the new Hellenistic kingdoms
– the template for the later Roman Empire.
As Greek culture spreads, thousands flock to Athens, viewed as its
epicentre. One is a young man from the island of Cyprus…
ZENO OF CITIUM
Born 334 BCE in Citium, Cyprus.
‘Having purchased a quantity of purple
from Phoenicia, he was shipwrecked
close to the Peiraeus; and when he
had made his way from the coast as
far as Athens, he sat down by a
bookseller's stall, being now about
thirty. And as he took up the second
book of Xenophon's Recollections of
Socrates and began to read it, he was
delighted with it, and asked where
such men… lived; and as [the Cynic]
Crates happened to pass at the
moment, the book-seller pointed him
out, and said, follow that man.’ –DL 7.1
ZENO OF CITIUM
Following Socrates, the Cynics
emphasized his disdain for
convention, while the Academics
emphasized his pursuit of wisdom.
Zeno studied under both Cynics
and Academics, and developed
Stoicism as a unique blend of
both approaches.
Named for the Painted Stoa (art
gallery) in Athens, it became the
leading philosophy of the age.
ZENO OF CITIUM
Interlocking ideas in three areas
Physics: All that exists is
physical, but physicality is not
fundamental; it’s built out of
“conscious intelligence” (a
“designing fire”) and
“hulê” (pure potentiality)
Logic: The graspable impression
Ethics: Only aretē is good, and
aretē is rational action.
C O O P E R : S O C R AT I C P R I N C I P L E S
Reason is a power of
motivation for action.
Philosophy perfects reason.
The person who knows the
truth (the Sage) is completely
safe from ever doing any wrong
thing, and therefore inevitably
lives a good life.
J. Cooper, Pursuits of Wisdom
(Princeton 2012), 11-13.
C O O P E R : STO I C P R I N C I P L E S
The fulfilled life is lived
homologoumenôs – “In
agreement” with nature (153)
Nature is a world-animal with
an inherent mind, which is
rightly called “divine” (156-7),
whose will is rational (logikos);
we should help in its realization
(170)
J. Cooper, Pursuits of Wisdom (2012)
C O O P E R : STO I C P R I N C I P L E S
Our appetites are thoughts, so our
psychic movements are susceptible
to reason (159-61)
Reason is a strong motivation to
action, so weakness of will is
incoherent (213)
Stoicism doesn’t require highly
technical philosophy (though it has
that); it requires the exercise of
virtue with our reason as “coagents”
with divine, rational nature (221)
J. Cooper, Pursuits of Wisdom (2012)