What Is Stoicism?

(stoacentral.com)

12 points | by 0xmattf 2 hours ago

4 comments

  • rck 9 minutes ago
    It's interesting that the main thinkers listed are all Roman. They're definitely the best known, but Stoicism was a Greek philosophy first and foremost, and Cleanthes, Chrysippus, etc. were more significant than any of the Romans.

    Stoicism had a lot going for it, but it was also full of a lot of crazy nonsense - there's a reason you've never met a Stoic who was fully on board with Stoic natural philosophy or "physics." The logic eventually made a comeback (via Frege, possibly due to plagiarism!), and the virtue ethics got absorbed into Christian moral philosophy by about the 13th century (by way of neo-platonists who influenced Dominican philosopher theologians like Aquinas). It's not surprising that it ran out of steam.

    • 0xmattf 1 minute ago
      Yeah, because, as you said, those are the most widely-known. There's not much literature existing beyond them.

      However, I did mention Zeno...

      I'll probably write an update to at least mention the others. That's a good point, thank you.

  • Steelclearance 18 minutes ago
    Stoicism is an ancient (yet timeless) philosophy from the Greek and Roman era. Basically, Stoics cultivate the basic virtues of Courage, Wisdom, Temperance and Justice, which lead to lasting happiness, success, love and all good things in life. “The man who has virtue is in need of nothing whatever for the purpose of living well.”

    Famous stoics include the philosopher Seneca and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius

  • lokar 33 minutes ago
    I’m about 1/2 way through reading “How to be a stoic”, so far its a good introduction.
    • 0xmattf 22 minutes ago
      I haven't read that, but I bet it's good. Massimo has been writing on the subject since I learned what Stoicism was.

      If you're interested, feel free to sign up to Stoa Central. Really, I would love to have some intelligent people to have discussions with.

  • lovegrenoble 17 minutes ago
    Marcus Aurelius !