Stoicism

Stoicism is a Greek philosophy that aims to teach how to be content no matter what the external circumstances are.

It teaches that happiness comes from attaining virtue or "living according to nature". They thought that nature has a "Divine Principle". This is not exactly a supernatural thing - it can be thought of as embodied in nature. In modern times, we can think of it as science. This lead them to believe in a Deterministic Universe - but also in Soft Determinism.

A part of this "Divine Principle" is there in everyone - and it can be used to respond freely and consciously to whatever fate brings. This builds up one of the key tenets of Stoicism...

Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us. Epictetus

If you link your happiness to things outside your control, you will suffer.

Philosophers

Even though Stoicism originated in Greece, most of our knowledge comes from the work of later roman philosophers like...

  • Seneca
  • Epictetus
  • Marcus Aurelius

The original Greek philosophers were...

  • Zeno of Citium(334 - 262 BC)
  • Chrysippus(279 - 206 BC)

Concepts

  • Dichotomy of Control
  • Stoic Sage: The highest ideal of stoicism - someone who will be content even if they were tortured to death. No one reaches this state - its something you aim for.
  • Memento Mori: "Remember your mortality". No matter how bad things are, you can find comfort in the fact that it will end. And no matter how great things are right now, you can die some day.
  • Amor Fate: "Love your fate". Be content by how the world is right now. Do not link your happiness on the world being a certain way. Eg. I'll be happy if I get a better job.
  • Negative Visualization: Imagine the worst possible outcome - and you'll be content with whatever actually happens.
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Stoic Virtues

Virtues in Stoicism... Wisdom: Knowing what is within our control and what is outside(Locus of Control). Things are good, bad or indifferent. Keep things outside our control(like money, opinion of others, etc) in the indiffe

Dichotomy of Control

This is a concept in Stoicism. In its simplest form... Everything is either within our control or outside our control. Only things within our control are our actions, our emotions, etc. We don't control most other things - no

Western Philosophy Timeline

Note: These are still a Work In Progress. Some cleanup required. Ancient Philosophy Pre-socratic Thales of Miletus Often referred to as the Father of Science Idea: Everything in the world is made out of water Ionian

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Published on: Sep 28, 2022

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