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Jul 23, 2024 · Stoicism, a school of thought that flourished in Greek and Roman history of Classical antiquity. It was one of the loftiest and most sublime philosophies in the record of Western civilization. In urging participation in human affairs, Stoics have always believed that the goal of all inquiry is to provide a mode of conduct characterized by ...
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- If You Want a Smooth Flow of Life, Live According to Nature. At the core of Stoic teaching is the founder Zeno’s idea that a smooth flow of life (euroia biou) comes from “living in agreement with nature.”
- Happiness Isn’t Found in Things, but in Virtue Alone – It’s All About What We Value and the Choices We Make. The early Stoics often disagreed about many particulars, but they all agreed that for human beings the happy life was to be found only in the pursuit of virtue (arete, or human excellence), a pursuit that involved tempering our desires, aversions, and impulses so that they align better with the four cardinal virtues of temperance (sophrosune), courage (andreia), justice (dikaiosune), and practical wisdom (phronesis).
- We Don’t Control External Events, We Only Control Our Thoughts, Opinions, Decisions and Duties. When we keep externals in the proper perspective, we gain a steadiness (eustatheia) that helps us along life’s way.
- We’ve Each Been Given All the Inner Resources We Need to Thrive. One of the biggest mistakes about Stoicism is to miss its positivity and joy. The Stoics weren’t bereft of emotion—they just wanted to eliminate toxic emotions and replace them with good emotions (eupatheia), which included rational wishing (boulesis; as opposed to blind hope), rational caution (eulabeia; as opposed to blind fear), and positive emotions like gratitude (eucharistia), joy (chara), and love for others (philostorgia).
Stoicism flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD, and among its adherents was Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It experienced a decline after Christianity became the state religion in the 4th century AD.
Jan 20, 2023 · The Stoics hold that the cosmos goes through a cycle of endless recurrence with periods of conflagration, a state in which all is fire, and periods of cosmic order, with the world as we experience it (Nemesius, 52C).
Feb 14, 2024 · In simple terms, Stoicism teaches us to focus on the things we can control—our character, thoughts, emotions, and actions—while accepting the things we cannot, such as the actions of others or the natural course of events going on in the world around us.
The Stoics developed a sophisticated psychological theory to explain how the advent of reason fundamentally transforms the world view of human beings as they mature.
Jul 28, 2016 · 1. Early stoa (300 – 100 BC): Zeno, Cleanthes and Chrysippus. The school of stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium around 300 BC in Athens. He opposed the popular school of epicurism, founded by Epicurus, who believed in a materialistic world and an accidental nature, driven by pain and pleasure.
