The Stoics

(Originally written July 15, 2006 in Book 4)

The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell

Chapter 28 - Stoicism

Stoicism was founded by Zeno, a contemporary of Epicurus, but the doctrine evolved much more gradually than Epicureanism. Zeno's Stoicism was a fusion of Cynicism and Heraclitus. By the time of Marcus Aurelius (a stoic), it had morphed into a system with Platonic and anti-materialistic elements.

Stoicism was less Greek than any other Greek philosophy. The earliest Stoics were mostly Syrian, the later were mostly Roman.

Zeno was a Phoenician from Cyprus, born in the second half of the 4th century BC.

Stoicism of Zeno formed around Cynicism but adopted some of the Academy's views and looked at Socrates as a saint.

Virtue was ultimately important to Zeno. Metaphysical subtleties were of no use for him.

Zeno did not doubt the senses because he thought that was useless and absurd. Zeno denied chance and nature was determined by strict natural laws.

He believed that everything was cyclical.

God was the soul of the sensible world.

All things possessed some bits of God, the Divine Fire.

Nature was one integrated system of many individual parts.

Free will produced virtue when one acted in accordance with nature.

Physical things were of no merit when concerned to virtue. Virtue can be found in all men, regardless of their physical surroundings.

Not just bad passions are condemned by the Stoic; all passions are.

Sympathy for death was bad. Friendship is of no account. Politics are useful, but unimportant. Nothing matters except virtue.

Zeno condemned the building of temples because there is no virtue in buildings.

He believed in astrology and divination.

Cleanthes of Asso immediately carried on the Stoic torch. He is known for 2 main things:
1) Condemning Aristarchus of Samos for promulgating a heliocentric belief.
2) The "Hymn to Zeus'.

Chrysippus (280-207 BC) followed Cleanthes and systematized Stoicism.

He believed that if a thing was to exist, the opposite necessarily exists. Thus, since good exists, evil necessarily exists.

He held logic to be fundamental.

He held an empirical theory of knowledge based on perception.

Post-Chrysippus, stoicism was altered by two men, Panaetius and Posidonius.

Panaetius introduced a lot of Platonic elements into Stoicism. He abandoned all materialism.

Panaetius befriended Scipio and influenced Cicero. Posidonius taught and further influenced Cicero.
Cicero brought Stoicism to the Romans.

Posidonius was a Syrian Greek and escaped the anarchy of Syria upon the collapse of Seleucid Empire. He moved to Athens.

He traveled extensively in Western Europe, North Africa and saw the heads on pikes on the Barbaric Spanish coast.

He was scientific, an extraordinary astronomer, and a historian of note.

He further combined Stoicism and Platonic elements.

By the way, a cover up of the Mary Magdelene by the Catholic Church is appalling. Obviously she was Jesus' husband. Just look at the Gnostic Gospels for the truth! (sarcasm obviously)

Posidonius believed the soul did not perish with the body (as most Stoics did) but rose into the air. The more virtuous a soul, the higher it rose. Extremely sinful souls were reincarnated.

Te most virtuous souls floated among the stars and helped out the living; thus, his belief in astrology.

Posidonius may have laid the foundation for Gnosticism.

The Copernican theory, not Christianity, finally doomed his philosophy.

The three most important Stoics (historically, not philosophically) were Romans:
1) Seneca - a preacher
2) Epictetus - a slave
3) Marcus Aurelius - an emperor.

Seneca lived from 3 BC - AD 65. He was a politician in Rome, though of Spanish origin. He was banished by the Emperor Claudius but was later recalled to tutor the future Roman Emperor, Nero.

Seneca amassed riches by usury in Roman Britain.

He was accused of treason by Nero and permitted to commit suicide.

He died in a Stoically virtuous way leaving 'the example of a virtuous life to his grieving family'.

Some Church Fathers considered him a Christian. St. Jerome believed he correspond with St. Paul.

Epictetus (AD 60 - 100) was born a slave. He was lame (probably from cruel punishment). He was banished along with all other philosophers by Emperor Domitian.

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) became emperor in 161. He devoted himself to be a Stoic Emperor.

He persecuted Christians (Russell contends as a political necessity) for not bowing to the State religion.

His life and ring were married by horrors: wars, an immoral wife (accused), earthquakes, rebellion, pestilence, etc.

Stoic beliefs proved reasonably consistent, in that virtue is not dependent on outside circumstances. As emperor, Marcus Aurelius and the slave Epictetus held nearly identical philosophical views.

The Stoic ethic fit the hopeless age in which Aurelius lived.

"If we understand that virtue is the only true good, we shall see that no real evil can befall us" (Russell, 263).

All men are sons of God but doomed to death. Stoics go out to death without 'whining' or 'groaning'.

A Stoic is one who is sick yet happy, in trouble yet happy, dying yet happy...

Epictetus hold that one should love his enemies.

"Every man is an actor in a play, in which God has assigned the parts; it is our duty to perform our part worthily, whatever it may be" (Russell, 264).

Marcus Aurelius held that since life is fragile, virtue must always be asserted.

He regards the universe as a closely knit whole and as one living being, one substance, and one soul [pantheism?].

Despite his status as Emperor and the preeminence of the Roman people, he held all men to be brothers.

Stoic ethics and theology contradict on one point. The universe is wholly deterministic, yet man has free will. Then man can do neither harm nor good to another, but the virtuous good will is the sole good.

The Stoics held that these contradictions were of necessity because it was impossible for all men to live up to their rigorous standards. They offered lower standards to those who could not live up to the high ones.

Kant's ethical standards are similar to the Stoics (according to Russell, but I don't see the correlation).

While Stoics concerned themselves mainly in Ethics they advanced progress in two main areas:
1) Theory of knowledge
2) Doctrine of natural law and natural rights

The Stoic theory of knowledge accepted perception in the face of Platonic theory.

King Ptolemy invited a Stoic by the name of Sphaerus to dinner and to embarrass him he gave Sphaerus a wax pomegranate to eat. The king laughed and pointed out the obvious deceptive nature of the senses. Sphaerus fired back that he had felt no certainty of it being real, but figured it unlikely that anything inedible would be served at a royal meal, thus shaming the king.

The Stoic theory of knowledge also included innate ideas and principles.