Understanding the philosophy of Stoicism and the power of indifference….

Stoicism is an ancient greek Hellenistic philosophy that has a lot of relevance in the modern world. In this article, let us explore the philosophy and two great stoic philosophers.

Meet the founder of stoicism

Zeno is the founder of stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy. He is a philosopher of Citium in Athena in the early 3rd century BCE.

In fact, stoicism was originally known as “Zenoism” after him. His name was soon dropped to avoid the risk of the philosophy turning into a cult of personality.

Zeno studied under Crates and the philosophers of the Megarian school.

He began teaching in the Colonnade in the Agora, also know as Stoa Poikile (Ancient Greek: ἡ ποικίλη στοά), which is where the term ‘Stoic’ comes from.

Zeno divided philosophy into 3 parts following the Old Academy’s ideas.

Logic

Zeno describes 4 stages in the process leading to true knowledge- Perception, Assent, Comprehension and Knowledge.

Zeno stretched out his fingers, and showed the palm of his hand, — “Perception,” — he said, — “is a thing like this.”- Then, when he had closed his fingers a little, — “Assent is like this.” — Afterwards, when he had completely closed his hand and showed his fist, that, he said, was Comprehension. But when he brought his left hand against his right, and with it took a firm and tight hold of his fist: — “Knowledge” — he said, was of that character; and that was what none but a wise person possessed.

Physics

In Zeno’s view, the universe is a divine reasoning entity where all parts belong to the whole.

Ethics

According to Zeno, virtue is what everyone must strive for, virtue and vice cannot coexist and every negative emotion or decision should be actively replaced by virtuous ones.

Meet the “Philosopher King”

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was a stoic philosopher and Roman emperor from 161 to 180.

Marcus was home-schooled in line with contemporary aristocratic trends.

He took up the dress and habits of the philosophers in April 132 at the behest of Diognetas. He even started sleeping on the ground until his mother convinced him to sleep on a bed.

In 139, Marcus became princeps iuventutis, and took the name Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar.

He would later caution himself against taking the name seriously, “See that you do not turn into a Caesar; do not be dipped into the purple dye — for that can happen”

Marcus was heavily influenced by his Latin tutor and an esteemed orator, Fronto. He was introduced to Stoicism by Appollonius while Quintus Junius Rusticus, considered the true successor of Seneca, had the biggest influence on Marcus.

Marcus effectively became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire after Antoninus’s death in 161. He was soon granted the name Agustus, the title imperator and formally elected as Pontiflex Maximus, chief priest of official cults. With a stoic preference for a philosophic life, Marcus found the imperial office unappealing but accepted it as his duty.

Upon being insisted by Marcus, the senate granted Lucius equal powers marking the first time Rome was ruled by two emperors at the same time. Marcus became Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus while Lucius became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus.

Upon his accession, he made 5000 denarii per capita donation with more to officers to the militia and devalued the Roman currency decreasing its silver purity. Both Marcus and Lucius were popular with the people of Rome due to their lack of pomp and promotion of freedom of speech.

Besides keeping Rome peaceful and safe amidst many wars, Marcus took great care in theory and practise of legislation gaining praise and approval of professional jurists as a just emperor skilled in the law.

Cassius Dio remarks on Marcus’s first days as a counsellor to Antoninus to his final days as emperor of Rome, “he remained the same [person] and did not change in the least.”

Understanding stoicism

stoicism
/ˈstəʊɪsɪz(ə)m/

noun: the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint.

It’s a philosophy of personal ethics informed by its system of logic and view on the natural world. Stoics are known for teaching that “virtue is the only good” for humans and the external things such as health and wealth are not good or bad by themselves but have value as material for virtue to act upon. According to stoicism, the best indication of an individual’s philosophy is his actions, not his words.

Stoicism flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until 3rd century AD. It faced a steady decline after christianity became the state religion in the 4rth century AD. In modern usage, the term ‘stoic’ is used to refer to a person who is indifferent to pain, pleasure, grief or joy. It was cited as a noun in 1579 and an adjective in 1596.

Some popular stoics are Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

Stoicism provides a unified code of the world consisting ideas of logic, monistic physics and naturalistic ethics.

Its primary aspect surrounds improving once’s life’s ethical well being towards an unbiased understanding of universal reason. Stoics believe everything is rooted in nature, that everyone must have a will in accordance with nature.

“Virtue consists in a will that is in agreement with nature”

Stoicism can be summarized with two quotes from Cleanthes and Epictetus.

Cleanthes once opined that the wicked man is “like a dog tied to a cart, and compelled to go wherever it goes”. In the words of Epictetus, a virtuous person, on the other hand, would be “sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy,”

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