Zeno of Citium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Zeno of Elea.
This article is about the Greek philosopher. For other uses, see Zeno.

ZenoofCitium

ZenoofCitium

Born

c.334BC
Citium,Cyprus

Died

c.262BC
Athens

Era

Ancientphilosophy

Region

Westernphilosophy

School

Stoicism

Maininterests

Logic,Physics,Ethics

Notableideas

FounderofStoicism

Influences[show]

Influenced[show]
Zeno of Citium (/zino/; Greek:
, Znn ho Kitieus; c. 334 c. 262 BC) was
[1]
a Hellenistic thinker from Citium (, Kition), Cyprus, and probably of Phoenician descent.[2] Zeno
was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. Based
on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained
from living a life of Virtue in accordance with Nature. It proved very successful, and flourished as the
dominant philosophy from the Hellenistic period through to the Roman era.

Contents
[hide]

1Life

2Philosophy
o

2.1Logic

2.2Physics

2.3Ethics

3Works

4Notes

5References

6Further reading

7External links

Life[edit]

Zeno was born c. 334 BC,[a] in Citium in Cyprus. Most of the details known about his life come from the
anecdotes preserved by Diogenes Lartius in his Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.
Diogenes relates a legend that Zeno was a merchant; after surviving a shipwreck, Zeno wandered into a
bookshop in Athens and was attracted to some writings about Socrates.[3] He asked the librarian how to
find such a man. In response, the librarian pointed to Crates of Thebes, the most famous Cynic living at
that time in Greece.[4]
Zeno is described as a haggard, tanned person,[5] living a spare, ascetic life.[6] This coincides with the
influences of Cynic teaching, and was, at least in part, continued in his Stoic philosophy. From the day
Zeno became Cratess pupil, he showed a strong bent for philosophy, though with too much native
modesty to assimilate Cynic shamelessness. Hence Crates, desirous of curing this defect in him, gave
him a potful of lentil-soup to carry through the Ceramicus; and when he saw that Zeno was ashamed
and tried to keep it out of sight, Crates broke the pot with a blow of his staff. As Zeno began to run off in
embarrassment with the lentil-soup flowing down his legs, Crates chided "Why run away, my little
Phoenician?", "nothing terrible has befallen you".[7]
Apart from Crates, Zeno studied under the philosophers of the Megarian school, including Stilpo,[8] and
the dialecticians Diodorus Cronus,[9] and Philo.[10] He is also said to have studied Platonist philosophy
under the direction of Xenocrates,[11] and Polemo.[12]
Zeno began teaching in the colonnade in the Agora of Athens known as the Stoa Poikile (Greek
) in 301 BC. His disciples were initially called Zenonians, but eventually they came to be known
as Stoics, a name previously applied to poets who congregated in the Stoa Poikile.
Among the admirers of Zeno was king Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedonia,[13] who, whenever he came to
Athens, would visit Zeno. Zeno is said to have declined an invitation to visit Antigonus in Macedonia,
although their supposed correspondence preserved by Lartius[14] is undoubtedly the invention of a later
rhetorician. Zeno instead sent his friend and disciple Persaeus,[14] who had lived with Zeno in his house.
[15]
Among Zeno's other pupils there were Aristo of Chios, Sphaerus, and Cleanthes who succeeded
Zeno as the head (scholarch) of the Stoic school in Athens.[16]
Zeno is said to have declined Athenian citizenship when it was offered to him, fearing that he would
appear unfaithful to his native land,[17] where he was highly esteemed.[18] We are also told that Zeno was
of an earnest, if not gloomy disposition;[19] that he preferred the company of the few to the many;[20] that
he was fond of burying himself in investigations;[21] and that he had a dislike to verbose and elaborate
speeches.[22] Diogenes Lartius has preserved many clever and witty remarks by Zeno,[23] the veracity of
which cannot be ascertained.
Zeno died around 262 BC.[a] Lartius reports about his death:
As he was leaving the school he tripped and fell, breaking his toe. Striking the ground with his
fist, he quoted the line from the Niobe:
"I come, I come, why dost thou call for me?"
and died on the spot through holding his breath.[24]
During his lifetime, Zeno received appreciation for his philosophical
and pedagogical teachings. Among other things, Zeno was honored with the golden crown,
[25]
and a tomb was built in honor of his moral influence on the youth of his era.[26]
The crater Zeno on the Moon is named in his honor.

Philosophy[edit]

Modern bust of Zeno in Athens

Following the ideas of the Academics, Zeno divided philosophy into three parts: Logic (a very
wide subject including rhetoric, grammar, and the theories
of perception and thought); Physics (not just science, but the divine nature of the universe as
well); and Ethics, the end goal of which was to achieve happiness through the right way of
living according to Nature. Because Zeno's ideas were later expanded upon
by Chrysippus and other Stoics it can be difficult to determine precisely what he thought. But
his general views can be outlined as follows:

Logic[edit]
In his treatment of Logic, Zeno was influenced by Stilpo and the other Megarians. Zeno urged
the need to lay down a basis for Logic because the wise person must know how to avoid
deception.[27] Cicero accused Zeno of being inferior to his philosophical predecessors in his
treatment of Logic,[28] and it seems true that a more exact treatment of the subject was laid
down by his successors, including Chrysippus.[29] Zeno divided true conceptions into the
comprehensible and the incomprehensible,[30] permitting for free-will the power of assent
(sunkatathesis/) in distinguishing between sense impressions.[31] Zeno said that
there were four stages in the process leading to true knowledge, which he illustrated with the
example of the flat, extended hand, and the gradual closing of the fist:
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. From which simile he also gave that state a new name, calling
it katalepsis (). 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.[32]

Physics[edit]

The Universe, in Zeno's view, is God:[33] a divine reasoning entity, where all the parts belong to
the whole.[34] Into this pantheistic system he incorporated the physics of Heraclitus; the
Universe contains a divine artisan-fire, which foresees everything,[35] and extending throughout
the Universe, must produce everything:
Zeno, then, defines nature by saying that it is artistically working fire, which advances by fixed
methods to creation. For he maintains that it is the main function of art to create and produce,
and that what the hand accomplishes in the productions of the arts we employ, is
accomplished much more artistically by nature, that is, as I said, by artistically working fire,
which is the master of the other arts.[35]
This divine fire,[31] or aether,[36] is the basis for all activity in the Universe,[37] operating on
otherwise passive matter, which neither increases nor diminishes itself.[38] The primary
substance in the Universe comes from fire, passes through the stage of air, and then becomes
water: the thicker portion becoming earth, and the thinner portion becoming air again, and then
rarefying back into fire.[39] Individual souls are part of the same fire as the world-soul of the
Universe.[40] Following Heraclitus, Zeno adopted the view that the Universe underwent regular
cycles of formation and destruction.[41]
The Nature of the Universe is such that it accomplishes what is right and prevents the
opposite,[42] and is identified with unconditional Fate,[43] while allowing it the free-will attributed
to it.[35]

Ethics[edit]

Zeno, portrayed as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg Chronicle

Like the Cynics, Zeno recognised a single, sole and simple good,[44] which is the only goal to
strive for.[45] "Happiness is a good flow of life," said Zeno,[46] and this can only be achieved
through the use of right Reason coinciding with the Universal Reason (Logos), which governs
everything. A bad feeling (pathos) "is a disturbance of the mind repugnant to Reason, and
against Nature."[47] This consistency of soul, out of which morally good actions spring, is Virtue,
[48]
true good can only consist in Virtue.[49]
Zeno deviated from the Cynics in saying that things that are morally indifferent could
nevertheless have value. Things have a relative value in proportion to how they aid the natural

instinct for self-preservation.[50] That which is to be preferred is a "fitting action"

(kathkon/), a designation Zeno first introduced. Self-preservation, and the things that
contribute towards it, has only a conditional value; it does not aid happiness, which depends
only on moral actions.[51]
Just as Virtue can only exist within the dominion of Reason, so Vice can only exist with the
rejection of Reason. Virtue is absolutely opposed to Vice,[52] the two cannot exist in the same
thing together, and cannot be increased or decreased;[53] no one moral action is more virtuous
than another.[54] All actions are either good or bad, since impulses and desires rest upon free
consent,[55] and hence even passive mental states or emotions that are not guided by reason
are immoral,[56] and produce immoral actions.[57] Zeno distinguished four negative emotions:
desire, fear, pleasure and pain (epithumia, phobos, hdon, lup / , , ,
),[58] and he was probably responsible for distinguishing the three corresponding positive
emotions: will, caution, and joy (boulsis, eulabeia, chara / , , ),
with no corresponding rational equivalent for pain. All errors must be rooted out, not merely set
aside,[59] and replaced with right reason.

Works[edit]
None of Zeno's writings have survived except as fragmentary quotations preserved by later
writers. However, the titles of many of Zeno's writings are known and are as follows:[60]

Ethical writings:

Republic

On
Life according to Nature

On
Impulse, or on the Nature of Humans

On Passions

On Duty

On Law

On Greek Education

Physical writings:

On Sight

On the Universe

On Signs

Pythagorean Doctrines

Logical writings:

General Things

Homeric Problems

On Poetical Readings

Other works:

Solutions

On Being

On the Logos

Discourses

The most famous of these works was Zeno's Republic, a work written in conscious imitation of
(or opposition to) Plato. Although it has not survived, more is known about it than any of his
other works. It outlined Zeno's vision of the ideal Stoic society built on egalitarian principles.

Notes[edit]
1. Jump up^ The dates for Zeno's life are controversial. According to Apollodorus,
as quoted by Philodemus, Zeno died in Arrheneides' archonship (262/1 BC).
According to Persaeus (Diogenes Lartius vii. 28), Zeno lived for 72 years. His
date of birth is thus 334/3 BC. A plausible chronology for his life is as follows: He
was born 334/3 BC, and came to Athens in 312/11 BC at the age of 22 (Lartius
1925, 28). He studied philosophy for about 10 years (Lartius 1925, 2);
opened his own school during Clearchus' archonship in 301/0 BC
(Philodemus, On the Stoics, col. 4); and was the head of the school for 39 years
and 3 months (Philodemus, On the Stoics, col. 4), and died 262/1 BC. For more
information see Ferguson 1911, pp. 185186; and Dorandi 2005, p. 38
1. Jump up^ "Zeno of Citium". Britannica Encyclopaedia.
2. Jump up^ Edwyn Bevan, Stoics and Sceptics
3. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 2,28,3132.
4. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 23.

5. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 1.

6. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 2627.
7. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 3.
8. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 2, 24.
9. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 16, 25.
10. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 16.
11. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 2; but note that Xenocrates died 314/13 BC
12. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 2, 25.
13. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 69, 1315, 36; Epictetus, Discourses, ii. 13. 1415;
Simplicius, in Epictetus Enchiridion, 51; Aelian, Varia Historia, ix. 26
14. ^ Jump up to:a b Lartius 1925, 69.
15. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 13, comp. 36.
16. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 37.
17. Jump up^ Plutarch, de Stoicor. repugn, p. 1034; comp. Lartius 1925, 12.
18. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 6.
19. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 16, comp. 26; Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistles, ix. 9
20. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 14.
21. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 15.
22. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 18, 22.
23. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 1825.
24. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 28.
25. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 6, 11.
26. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 1012.
27. Jump up^ Cicero, Academica, ii. 20.
28. Jump up^ Cicero, de Finibus, iv. 4.
29. Jump up^ Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math. vii. 253.

30. Jump up^ Cicero, Academica, ii. 6, 24.

31. ^ Jump up to:a b Cicero, Academica, i. 11.
32. Jump up^ Cicero, Academica, ii. 4.
33. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 148.
34. Jump up^ Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math. ix. 104, 101; Cicero, de Natura
Deorum, ii. 8.
35. ^ Jump up to:a b c Cicero, de Natura Deorum, ii. 22.
36. Jump up^ Cicero, Academica, ii. 41.
37. Jump up^ Cicero, de Natura Deorum, ii. 9, iii. 14.
38. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 150.
39. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 142, comp. 136.
40. Jump up^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, i. 9, de Natura Deorum, iii.
14; Lartius 1925, 156.
41. Jump up^ Stobaeus, Ecl. Phys. i.
42. Jump up^ Cicero, de Natura Deorum, i. 14.
43. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 88, 148, etc., 156.
44. Jump up^ Cicero, Academica, i. 16. 2.
45. Jump up^ Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 6. 8; comp. Lartius 1925, 100, etc.
46. Jump up^ Stobaeus, 2.77.
47. Jump up^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 6.
48. Jump up^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 15.
49. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 102, 127.
50. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 85; Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 5, 15, iv. 10, v.
9, Academica, i. 16.
51. Jump up^ Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 13.
52. Jump up^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 13, Academica, i. 10, de
Finibus, iii. 21, iv. 9, Parad. iii. 1; Lartius 1925, 127.

53. Jump up^ Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 14, etc.

54. Jump up^ Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 14; Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math. vii. 422.
55. Jump up^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 9, Academica, i. 10.
56. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 110; Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 6. 14.
57. Jump up^ Cicero, de Finibus, iv. 38; Plutarch, de Virt. mor.
58. Jump up^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 6; Lartius 1925, 110.
59. Jump up^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 18, etc.
60. Jump up^ Lartius 1925, 4.

References[edit]

Dorandi, Tiziano (2005). "Chapter 2: Chronology". In Algra, Keimpe; et al. The Cambridge
History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
p. 38. ISBN 9780521616706.

Ferguson, William Scott (1911). Hellenistic Athens: An Historical Essay. London:

Macmillan. pp. 185186.

Lartius, Diogenes (1925). "The Stoics: Zeno". Lives of the Eminent

Philosophers. 2:7. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical
Library. 1160.

Further reading[edit]

Hunt, Harold. A Physical Interpretation of the Universe. The Doctrines of Zeno the Stoic.
Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976. ISBN 0-522-84100-7

Long, Anthony A., Sedley, David N. The Hellenistic Philosophers, Volume 1. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-521-27556-3

Pearson, Alfred C. Fragments of Zeno and Cleanthes, (1891). Greek/Latin fragments with
English commentary.

Reale, Giovanni. A History of Ancient Philosophy. III. The systems of the Hellenistic Age,
(translated by John R. Catan, 1985 Zeno, the foundation of the Stoa, and the different
fases of the Stoicism)

Scaltsas Theodore, and Mason Andrew S. (eds.), The philosophy of Zeno. Larnaca: The
Municipality of Larnaca, 2002. ISBN 9963-603-23-8

Schofield, Malcolm. The Stoic Idea of the City. cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1991. ISBN 0-226-74006-4

. . " "
// . ., 1956. 3. . 315-342.

External links[edit]
Wikiquotehasquotations
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Citium.

Zeno of Citium by Robin Turner in Sensible Marks of Ideas

Zeno of Cittium founder of Stoicism by Paul Harrison.

Early Stoic Logic: Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes of Assos, Chrysippus of Soli[dead link]