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Stoicism

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early
3rd century BC. It is a philosophy of personal eudaemonic virtue ethics informed by its
system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting that the practice of virtue is
both necessary and sufficient to achieve eudaimonia—flourishing by means of living an
ethical life. The Stoics identified the path to eudaimonia with a life spent practicing the
cardinal virtues and living in accordance with nature.
Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, in the Farnese collection, Naples – Photo by Paolo Monti, 1969

The Stoics are especially known for teaching that "virtue is the only good" for human
beings, and those external things—such as health, wealth, and pleasure—are not good nor
bad in themselves (adiaphora) but have value as "material for virtue to act upon."
Alongside Aristotelian ethics, the Stoic tradition forms one of the major founding
approaches to virtue ethics.[1] The Stoics also held that certain destructive emotions
resulted from errors of judgment, and they believed people should aim to maintain a will
(called prohairesis) that is "in accordance with nature". Because of this, the Stoics thought
the best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said but how a
person behaved.[2] To live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural
order since they thought everything was rooted in nature.

Many Stoics—such as Seneca and Epictetus—emphasized that because "virtue is sufficient for
happiness", a sage would be emotionally resilient to misfortune. This belief is similar to the
meaning of the phrase "stoic calm", though the phrase does not include the traditional
Stoic view that only a sage can be considered truly free and that all moral corruptions
are equally vicious.[3]
Stoicism flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD, and
among its adherents was Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It experienced a decline after
Christianity became the state religion in the 4th century AD. Since then, it has seen revivals,
notably in the Renaissance (Neostoicism) and in the contemporary era (modern Stoicism).[4]

Name

Origins E…
Stoicism was originally known as "Zenonism", after the founder Zeno of Citium. However, this
name was soon dropped, likely because the Stoics did not consider their founders to be
perfectly wise and to avoid the risk of the philosophy becoming a cult of personality.[5]

The name "Stoicism" derives from the Stoa Poikile (Ancient Greek: ἡ ποικίλη στοά), or "painted
porch", a colonnade decorated with mythic and historical battle scenes on the north side
of the Agora in Athens where Zeno and his followers gathered to discuss their ideas.[6][7]

Sometimes Stoicism is therefore referred to as "The Stoa", or the philosophy of "The

Porch".[5]

Modern usage E…
The word "stoic" commonly refers to someone who is indifferent to pain, pleasure, grief, or
joy.[8] The modern usage as a "person who represses feelings or endures patiently" was
first cited in 1579 as a noun and in 1596 as an adjective.[9] In contrast to the term
"Epicurean", the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 's entry on Stoicism notes, "the sense
of the English adjective 'stoical' is not utterly misleading with regard to its philosophical
origins".[10]

Basic tenets
 Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man,
otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper
subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of
statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each
person's own life.

— Epictetus, Discourses 1.15.2, Robin Hard revised translation

The Stoics provided a unified account of the world, constructed from ideals of logic,
monistic physics, and naturalistic ethics. Of these, they emphasized ethics as the main focus
of human knowledge, though their logical theories were of more interest for later
philosophers.

Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming

destructive emotions; the philosophy holds that becoming a clear and unbiased thinker
allows one to understand the universal reason (logos). Stoicism's primary aspect involves
improving the individual's ethical and moral well-being: "Virtue consists in a will that is in
agreement with Nature".[11] This principle also applies to the realm of interpersonal
relationships; "to be free from anger, envy, and jealousy",[12] and to accept even slaves as
"equals of other men, because all men alike are products of nature".[13]

The Stoic ethic espouses a deterministic perspective; in regard to those who lack Stoic
virtue, Cleanthes once opined that the wicked man is "like a dog tied to a cart, and
compelled to go wherever it goes".[11] A Stoic of virtue, by contrast, would amend his will
to suit the world and remain, in the words of Epictetus, "sick and yet happy, in peril and yet
happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy",[12] thus positing a
"completely autonomous" individual will and at the same time a universe that is "a rigidly
deterministic single whole". This viewpoint was later described as "Classical Pantheism" (and
was adopted by Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza).[14]

History
Antisthenes, founder of the Cynic school of philosophy

Beginning around 301 BC, Zeno taught philosophy at the Stoa Poikile ("Painted Porch"), from
which his philosophy got its name.[15] Unlike the other schools of philosophy, such as the
Epicureans, Zeno chose to teach his philosophy in a public space, which was a colonnade
overlooking the central gathering place of Athens, the Agora.

Zeno's ideas developed from those of the Cynics, whose founding father, Antisthenes, had
been a disciple of Socrates. Zeno's most influential follower was Chrysippus, who was
responsible for molding what is now called Stoicism. Later Roman Stoics focused on
promoting a life in harmony within the universe over which one has no direct control.
Bust of Seneca

Scholars usually divide the history of Stoicism into three phases:

1. Early Stoa, from Zeno's founding to Antipater

2. Middle Stoa, including Panaetius and Posidonius

3. Late Stoa, including Musonius Rufus, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius

No complete works survived from the first two phases of Stoicism. Only Roman texts from
the Late Stoa survived.[16]

Stoicism became the foremost popular philosophy among the educated elite in the Hellenistic
world and the Roman Empire[17] to the point where, in the words of Gilbert Murray, "nearly
all the successors of Alexander [...] professed themselves Stoics".[18]

Logic

Propositional logic E…
Diodorus Cronus, who was one of Zeno's teachers, is considered the philosopher who first
introduced and developed an approach to logic now known as propositional logic, which is
based on statements or propositions, rather than terms, differing greatly from Aristotle's
term logic. Later, Chrysippus developed a system that became known as Stoic logic and
included a deductive system, Stoic Syllogistic, which was considered a rival to Aristotle's
Syllogistic (see Syllogism). New interest in Stoic logic came in the 20th century, when
important developments in logic were based on propositional logic. Susanne Bobzien wrote,
"The many close similarities between Chrysippus's philosophical logic and that of Gottlob
Frege are especially striking".[19]

Bobzien also notes that, "Chrysippus wrote over 300 books on logic, on virtually any topic
logic today concerns itself with, including speech act theory, sentence analysis, singular
and plural expressions, types of predicates, indexicals, existential propositions, sentential
connectives, negations, disjunctions, conditionals, logical consequence, valid argument
forms, theory of deduction, propositional logic, modal logic, tense logic, epistemic logic,
logic of suppositions, logic of imperatives, ambiguity and logical paradoxes".[19]

Categories E…
The Stoics held that all beings (ὄντα)—though not all things (τινά)—are material.[20] Besides
the existing beings they admitted four incorporeals (asomata): time, place, void, and
sayable.[21] They were held to be just 'subsisting' while such a status was denied to
universals.[22] Thus, they accepted Anaxagoras's idea (as did Aristotle) that if an object is
hot, it is because some part of a universal heat body had entered the object. But, unlike
Aristotle, they extended the idea to cover all accidents. Thus, if an object is red, it would
be because some part of a universal red body had entered the object.

They held that there were four categories.

1. Substance (ὑποκείμενον): The primary matter, formless substance, (ousia) that things
are made of

2. Quality (ποιόν): The way matter is organized to form an individual object; in Stoic
physics, a physical ingredient (pneuma: air or breath), which informs the matter
 3. Somehow disposed (πως ἔχον): Particular characteristics, not present within the
object, such as size, shape, action, and posture

4. Somehow disposed in relation to something (πρός τί πως ἔχον): Characteristics related

to other phenomena, such as the position of an object within time and space relative
to other objects

Make for yourself a definition or description of the thing which is

presented to you, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its
substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell yourself its
proper name, and the names of the things of which it has been
compounded, and into which it will be resolved. For nothing is so
productive of elevation of mind as to be able to examine methodically
and truly every object that is presented to you in life, and always to
look at things so as to see at the same time what kind of universe this is,
and what kind of use everything performs in it, and what value
everything has with reference to the whole.

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, iii. 11

Stoics outlined what we have control over categories of our own action, thoughts and
reaction. The opening paragraph of the Enchiridion states the categories as: "Things in our
control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own
actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in a word,
whatever are not our own actions." These suggest a space that is within our own control.

Epistemology E…

The Stoics propounded that knowledge can be attained through the use of reason. Truth
can be distinguished from fallacy—even if, in practice, only an approximation can be made.
According to the Stoics, the senses constantly receive sensations: pulsations that pass
from objects through the senses to the mind, where they leave an impression in the
imagination (phantasiai) (an impression arising from the mind was called a phantasma).[23]
The mind has the ability to judge (συγκατάθεσις, synkatathesis)—approve or reject—an
impression, enabling it to distinguish a true representation of reality from one that is false.
Some impressions can be assented to immediately, but others can achieve only varying
degrees of hesitant approval, which can be labeled belief or opinion (doxa). It is only
through reason that we gain clear comprehension and conviction (katalepsis). Certain and
true knowledge (episteme), achievable by the Stoic sage, can be attained only by verifying
the conviction with the expertise of one's peers and the collective judgment of humankind.

Physics

According to the Stoics, the Universe is a material reasoning substance (logos),[24] known as
God or Nature, which was divided into two classes: the active and the passive.[25] The
passive substance is matter, which "lies sluggish, a substance ready for any use, but sure to
remain unemployed if no one sets it in motion".[26] The active substance, which can be called
Fate or Universal Reason (logos),[24] is an intelligent aether or primordial fire, which acts
on the passive matter:

The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul; it is
this same world's guiding principle, operating in mind and reason,
together with the common nature of things and the totality that
embraces all existence; then the foreordained might and necessity of
the future; then fire and the principle of aether; then those elements
whose natural state is one of flux and transition, such as water, earth,
and air; then the sun, the moon, the stars; and the universal existence
in which all things are contained.

— Chrysippus, in Cicero, De Natura Deorum, i. 39

Everything is subject to the laws of Fate, for the Universe acts according to its own
nature, and the nature of the passive matter it governs. The souls of humans and animals
are emanations from this primordial Fire, and are, likewise, subject to Fate:
 Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one
substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to
one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all
things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating
causes of all things that exist; observe too the continuous spinning of
the thread and the structure of the web.

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, iv. 40

Individual souls are perishable by nature, and can be "transmuted and diffused, assuming a
fiery nature by being received into the seminal reason ("logos spermatikos") of the
Universe".[27] Since right Reason is the foundation of both humanity and the universe, it
follows that the goal of life is to live according to Reason, that is, to live a life according
to Nature.

Chrysippus
Stoic theology is a fatalistic and naturalistic pantheism: God is never fully transcendent
but always immanent, and identified with Nature. Abrahamic religions personalize God as a
world-creating entity, but Stoicism equates God with the totality of the universe;
according to Stoic cosmology, which is very similar to the Hindu conception of existence,
there is no absolute start to time, as it is considered infinite and cyclic. Similarly, the space
and Universe have neither start nor end, rather they are cyclical. The current Universe is a
phase in the present cycle, preceded by an infinite number of Universes, doomed to be
destroyed ("ekpyrōsis", conflagration) and re-created again,[28] and to be followed by
another infinite number of Universes. Stoicism considers all existence as cyclical, the cosmos
as eternally self-creating and self-destroying (see also Eternal return).

Stoicism, just like Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, does not posit a
beginning or end to the Universe.[29] According to the Stoics, the logos was the active
reason[24] or anima mundi pervading and animating the entire Universe. It was conceived as
material and is usually identified with God or Nature. The Stoics also referred to the
seminal reason ("logos spermatikos"), or the law of generation in the Universe, which was
the principle of the active reason working in inanimate matter. Humans, too, each possess a
portion of the divine logos, which is the primordial Fire and reason that controls and
sustains the Universe.[30]

The first philosophers to explicitly describe nominalist arguments were the Stoics,
especially Chrysippus.[31][32]

Ethics

Ancient Stoics are often misunderstood because the terms they used pertained to different
concepts than today. The word "stoic" has since come to mean "unemotional" or indifferent
to pain because Stoic ethics taught freedom from "passion" by following "reason". The
Stoics did not seek to extinguish emotions; rather, they sought to transform them by a
resolute "askēsis", that enables a person to develop clear judgment and inner calm.[33]
Logic, reflection, and focus were the methods of such self-discipline, temperance is split
into self-control, discipline, and modesty.
Borrowing from the Cynics, the foundation of Stoic ethics is that good lies in the state of
the soul itself; in wisdom and self-control. Stoic ethics stressed the rule: "Follow where
reason leads". One must therefore strive to be free of the passions, bearing in mind that
the ancient meaning of pathos (plural pathe) translated here as passion was "anguish" or
"suffering",[34] that is, "passively" reacting to external events, which is somewhat different
from the modern use of the word. Terms used in Stoicism related to pathos include
propathos or instinctive reaction (e.g., turning pale and trembling when confronted by
physical danger) and eupathos, which is the mark of the Stoic sage (sophos). The eupatheia
are feelings that result from the correct judgment in the same way that passions result
from incorrect judgment. The idea was to be free of suffering through apatheia (Greek:
ἀπάθεια; literally, "without passion") or peace of mind,[35] where peace of mind was
understood in the ancient sense—being objective or having "clear judgment" and the
maintenance of equanimity in the face of life's highs and lows.

For the Stoics, reason meant using logic and understanding the processes of nature—the
logos or universal reason, inherent in all things. According to reason and virtue, living
according to reason and virtue is to live in harmony with the divine order of the universe,
in recognition of the common reason and essential value of all people.

The four cardinal virtues (aretai) of Stoic philosophy is a classification derived from the
teachings of Plato (Republic IV. 426–35):

Wisdom (Greek: φρόνησις "phronesis" or σοφία "sophia", Latin: prudentia or sapientia)

Courage (Greek: ανδρεία "andreia", Latin: fortitudo)

Justice (Greek: δικαιοσύνη "dikaiosyne", Latin: iustitia)

Temperance (Greek: σωφροσύνη "sophrosyne", Latin: temperantia)

Following Socrates, the Stoics held that unhappiness and evil are the results of human
ignorance of the reason in nature. If someone is unkind, it is because they are unaware of
their own universal reason, which leads to the conclusion of unkindness. The solution to
evil and unhappiness then is the practice of Stoic philosophy: to examine one's own
judgments and behavior and determine where they diverge from the universal reason of
nature.
The Stoics accepted that suicide was permissible for the wise person in circumstances that
might prevent them from living a virtuous life.[36] Plutarch held that accepting life under
tyranny would have compromised Cato's self-consistency (constantia) as a Stoic and
impaired his freedom to make the honorable moral choices.[37] Suicide could be justified if
one fell victim to severe pain or disease,[36] but otherwise suicide would usually be seen as a
rejection of one's social duty.[38]

The doctrine of "things indifferent" E…

In philosophical terms, things that are indifferent are outside the application of moral law
—that is without tendency to either promote or obstruct moral ends. Actions neither
required nor forbidden by the moral law, or that do not affect morality, are called
morally indifferent. The doctrine of things indifferent (ἀδιάφορα, adiaphora) arose in the
Stoic school as a corollary of its diametric opposition of virtue and vice (καθήκοντα
kathekonta, "convenient actions", or actions in accordance with nature; and ἁμαρτήματα
hamartemata, mistakes). As a result of this dichotomy, a large class of objects were left
unassigned and thus regarded as indifferent.

Eventually three sub-classes of "things indifferent" developed: things to prefer because

they assist life according to nature; things to avoid because they hinder it; and things
indifferent in the narrower sense. The principle of adiaphora was also common to the
Cynics. Philipp Melanchthon revived the doctrine of things indifferent during the
Renaissance.

Spiritual exercise E…
Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic Roman emperor

Philosophy for a Stoic is not just a set of beliefs or ethical claims; it is a way of life
involving constant practice and training (or "askēsis"). Stoic philosophical and spiritual
practices included logic, Socratic dialogue and self-dialogue, contemplation of death,
mortality salience, training attention to remain in the present moment (similar to
mindfulness and some forms of Buddhist meditation), and daily reflection on everyday
problems and possible solutions e.g. with journaling. Philosophy for a Stoic is an active
process of constant practice and self-reminder.

In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius defines several such practices. For example, in Book II.I:

Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent,
treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of the ignorance of real good
and ill ... I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve
me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we
have come into the world to work together ...
Prior to Aurelius, Epictetus in his Discourses, distinguished between three types of act:
judgment, desire, and inclination.[39] According to philosopher Pierre Hadot, Epictetus
identifies these three acts with logic, physics and ethics respectively.[40] Hadot writes that
in the Meditations, "Each maxim develops either one of these very characteristic topoi [i.e.,
acts], or two of them or three of them."[41]

Seamus Mac Suibhne has described the practices of spiritual exercises as influencing those
of reflective practice.[42] Many parallels between Stoic spiritual exercises and modern
cognitive behavioral therapy have been identified.[43]

Stoics were also known for consolatory orations, which were part of the consolatio
literary tradition. Three such consolations by Seneca have survived.

Stoics commonly employ ‘The View from Above’, reflecting on society and otherness in guided
visualization, aiming to gain a "bigger picture", to see ourselves in context relevant to
others, to see others in the context of the world, to see ourselves in the context of the
world to help determine our role and the importance of happenings.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, in Book 7.48 it is stated;

A fine reflection from Plato. One who would converse about human
beings should look on all things earthly as though from some point far
above, upon herds, armies, and agriculture, marriages and divorces,
births and deaths, the clamour of law courts, deserted wastes, alien
peoples of every kind, festivals, lamentations, and markets, this
intermixture of everything and ordered combination of opposites.

Love and sexuality E…

Stoics considered sexuality an element within the law of nature that was not to be good
or bad by itself, but condemned passionate desire as something to be avoided.[44][45][46] Early
exponents differed significantly from late stoics in their view of romantic love and sexual
relationships.[44][45]
Zeno advocated for a republic ruled by love and not by law, where marriage would be
abolished, wives would be held in common, and eroticism would be practiced with both boys
and girls with educative purposes, to develop virtue in the loved ones.[44][46] However, he
didn't condemn marriage per se, considering it equally a natural occurrence.[44][45] He
regarded same sex relationships positively, and maintained that wise men should "have
carnal knowledge no less and no more of a favorite than of a non-favorite, nor of a
female than of a male."[46][47] Zeno favored love over desire, clarifying that the ultimate
goal of sexuality should be virtue and friendship.[45][46]

Among later stoics, Epictetus maintained homosexual and heterosexual sex as equivalent in
this field,[47] and condemned only the kind of desire that led one to act against
judgement.[45] However, contemporaneous positions generally advanced towards equating
sexuality with passion, and although they were still not hostile to sexual relationships by
themselves, they nonetheless believed those should be limited in order to retain self-
control.[44][47] Musonius spoused the only natural kind of sex was that meant for
procreation, defending a companionate form of marriage between man and woman,[44] and
considered relationships solely undergone for pleasure or affection as unnatural.[45][47]
This view was ultimately influential in other currents of thought.[45]

Social philosophy

A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism; according to the Stoics, all people
are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should live in brotherly love and readily
help one another. In the Discourses, Epictetus comments on man's relationship with the
world: "Each human being is primarily a citizen of his own commonwealth; but he is also a
member of the great city of gods and men, whereof the city political is only a copy."[48] This
sentiment echoes that of Diogenes of Sinope, who said, "I am not an Athenian or a Corinthian,
but a citizen of the world."[49]

They held that external differences, such as rank and wealth, are of no importance in
social relationships. Instead, they advocated the brotherhood of humanity and the natural
equality of all human beings. Stoicism became the most influential school of the Greco-
Roman world, and produced a number of remarkable writers and personalities, such as
Cato the Younger and Epictetus.

In particular, they were noted for their urging of clemency toward slaves. Seneca in his
Letter 47 exhorted, "Kindly remember that he whom you call your slave sprang from the
same stock, is smiled upon by the same skies, and on equal terms with yourself breathes,
lives, and dies."[50]

Influence on Christianity

Justus Lipsius, founder of Neostoicism

In St. Ambrose of Milan's Duties, "The voice is the voice of a Christian bishop, but the precepts
are those of Zeno."[51][52] Regarding what he called "the Divine Spirit", Maxwell Staniforth
wrote:
 Cleanthes, wishing to give more explicit meaning to Zeno's 'creative fire',
had been the first to hit upon the term pneuma, or 'spirit', to describe it.
Like fire, this intelligent 'spirit' was imagined as a tenuous substance akin
to a current of air or breath, but essentially possessing the quality of
warmth; it was immanent in the universe as God, and in man as the soul
and life-giving principle. Clearly, it is not a long step from this to the 'Holy
Spirit' of Christian theology, the 'Lord and Giver of life', visibly manifested
as tongues of fire at Pentecost and ever since associated—in the Christian
as in the Stoic mind—with the ideas of vital fire and beneficient
warmth.[53]

Regarding the Trinity, Staniforth wrote:

Again in the doctrine of the Trinity, the ecclesiastical conception of Father,

Word, and Spirit finds its germ in the different Stoic names of the Divine
Unity. Thus Seneca, writing of the supreme Power which shapes the
universe, states, 'This Power we sometimes call the All-ruling God,
sometimes the incorporeal Wisdom, sometimes the Holy Spirit, sometimes
Destiny.' The Church had only to reject the last of these terms to arrive at
its own acceptable definition of the Divine Nature; while the further
assertion 'these three are One', which the modern mind finds paradoxical,
was no more than commonplace to those familiar with Stoic notions.[53]

The apostle Paul met with Stoics during his stay in Athens, reported in Acts 17:16–18 (https://
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+17:16%E2%80%9318&version=nkjv) . In his
letters, Paul reflected heavily from his knowledge of Stoic philosophy, using Stoic terms
and metaphors to assist his new Gentile converts in their understanding of Christianity.[54]
Stoic influence can also be seen in the works of St. Ambrose, Marcus Minucius Felix, and
Tertullian.[55]
The Fathers of the Church regarded Stoicism as a "pagan philosophy";[56][57] nonetheless,
early Christian writers employed some of the central philosophical concepts of Stoicism.
Examples include the terms "logos", "virtue", "Spirit", and "conscience".[29] But the parallels
go well beyond the sharing and borrowing of terminology. Both Stoicism and Christianity
assert an inner freedom in the face of the external world, a belief in human kinship with
Nature or God, a sense of the innate depravity—or "persistent evil"—of humankind,[29] and
the futility and temporary nature of worldly possessions and attachments. Both
encourage Ascesis with respect to the passions and inferior emotions, such as lust, and envy,
so that the higher possibilities of one's humanity can be awakened and developed.

Stoic writings such as Meditations by Marcus Aurelius have been highly regarded by many
Christians throughout the centuries. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox
Church accept the Stoic ideal of dispassion to this day.

Middle and Roman Stoics taught that sex is just within marriage, for unitive and
procreative purposes only.[58][59] This teaching is accepted by the Catholic Church to this
day.[60]

Saint Ambrose of Milan was known for applying Stoic philosophy to his theology.

Stoic philosophers

Zeno of Citium (332–262 BC), founder of Stoicism and the Stoic Academy (Stoa) in Athens

Aristo of Chios (fl. 260 BC), pupil of Zeno;

Herillus of Carthage (fl. 3rd century BC)

Cleanthes (of Assos) (330–232 BC), second head of Stoic Academy

Chrysippus (280–204 BC), third head of the academy

Diogenes of Babylon (230–150 BC)

Antipater of Tarsus (210–129 BC)

Panaetius of Rhodes (185–109 BC)

Posidonius of Apameia (c. 135–51 BC)

Diodotus (c. 120–59 BC), teacher of Cicero

Cato the Younger (94–46 BC)

Seneca (4 BC – 65 AD)

Gaius Musonius Rufus (1st century AD)

Rubellius Plautus (33–62 AD)

Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus (1st century AD)

Lucius Annaeus Cornutus (1st century AD)

Epictetus (55–135 AD)

Hierocles (2nd century AD)

Marcus Aurelius (121–180 AD)

See also

4 Maccabees

Definitions of philosophy

Dehellenization

Deixis

Ecclesiastes

Ekpyrosis, palingenesis, apocatastasis

Ekpyrotic universe (cosmological theory)

Glossary of Stoic terms

Megarian school

Oikeiôsis

Paradoxa Stoicorum
Plank of Carneades

Sage (philosophy)

Stoic Opposition

Stoic passions

Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta

Tirukkural

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9. Harper, Douglas (November 2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary – Stoic" (http://www.etymonline.co

m/index.php?term=stoic) . Retrieved 2 September 2006.

10. Baltzly, Dirk (13 December 2004). "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Stoicism" (http://plato.st
anford.edu/entries/stoicism/) . Retrieved 2 September 2006.

11. Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy, p. 254

12. Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy, p. 264

13. Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy, p. 253.

14. Charles Hartshorne and William Reese, "Philosophers Speak of God," Humanity Books, 1953 ch 4

15. Becker, Lawrence (2003). A History of Western Ethics. New York: Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 978-
0415968256.

16. A.A.Long, Hellenistic Philosophy, p. 115.

17. Amos, H. (1982). These Were the Greeks. Chester Springs: Dufour Editions. ISBN 978-0802312754.
OCLC 9048254 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9048254) .

18. Gilbert Murray, The Stoic Philosophy (1915), p. 25. In Bertrand Russell, A History of Western
Philosophy (1946).

19. Ancient Logic (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-ancient/) by Susanne Bobzien. Stanford

Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

20. Jacques Brunschwig, Stoic Metaphysics in The Cambridge Companion to Stoics, ed. B. Inwood,
Cambridge, 2006, pp. 206–32

21. Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Mathematicos 10.218. (chronos, topos, kenon, lekton)

22. Marcelo D. Boeri, The Stoics on Bodies and Incorporeals, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 54, No. 4
(Jun., 2001), pp. 723–52

23. Diogenes Laërtius (2000). Lives of eminent philosophers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
VII.49

24. Brenk, Frederick (January 2016). "Pagan Monotheism and Pagan Cult" (https://classicalstudies.org/
annual-meeting/147/abstract/pagan-monotheism-and-pagan-cult) . "Theism" and Related
Categories in the Study of Ancient Religions. SCS/AIA Annual Meeting (https://samreligions.org/2014/
12/30/theism-and-related-categories-in-the-study-of-ancient-religions/) . Vol. 75. Philadelphia:
Society for Classical Studies (University of Pennsylvania). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0170506035740/https://classicalstudies.org/annual-meeting/147/abstract/pagan-monotheism-and
-pagan-cult) from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2020. "Historical authors
generally refer to “the divine” (to theion) or “the supernatural” (to daimonion) rather than
simply “God.” [...] The Stoics, believed in a God identifiable with the logos or hegemonikon (reason
or leading principle) of the universe and downgraded the traditional gods, who even disappear
during the conflagration (ekpyrosis). Yet, the Stoics apparently did not practice a cult to this
God. Middle and Later Platonists, who spoke of a supreme God, in philosophical discourse,
generally speak of this God, not the gods, as responsible for the creation and providence of the
universe. They, too, however, do not seem to have directly practiced a religious cult to their
God." {{cite book}}: External link in |series= (help)
25. Karamanolis, George E. (2013). "Free will and divine providence" (https://books.google.com/books?id
=ZVdsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA151) . The Philosophy of Early Christianity. Ancient Philosophies (1st ed.).
New York and London: Routledge. p. 151. ISBN 978-1844655670.

26. Seneca, Epistles, lxv. 2.

27. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, iv. 21.

28. Michael Lapidge, Stoic Cosmology, in: John M. Rist, The Stoics, Cambridge University Press, 1978, pp.
182–83.

29. Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. 2003, p. 368.

30. Tripolitis, A., Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age, pp. 37–38. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

31. John Sellars, Stoicism, Routledge, 2014, pp. 84–85: "[Stoics] have often been presented as the first
nominalists, rejecting the existence of universal concepts altogether. ... For Chrysippus there
are no universal entities, whether they be conceived as substantial Platonic Forms or in some
other manner.".

32. "Chrysippus | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy" (https://iep.utm.edu/chrysipp/) .

33. Graver, Margaret (2009). Stoicism and Emotion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-
0226305585. OCLC 430497127 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/430497127) .

34. "Passion" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/passion) . Merriam-Webster.

Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 29 January 2011.

35. Seddon, Keith (2005). Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes. New York: Routledge. p. 217.
ISBN 978-0415324519. OCLC 469313282 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/469313282) .

36. Don E. Marietta, (1998), Introduction to ancient philosophy, pp. 153–54. Sharpe

37. Zadorojnyi, Alexei V. (2007). "Cato's suicide in Plutarch AV Zadorojnyi". The Classical Quarterly.
57 (1): 216–30. doi:10.1017/S0009838807000195 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS000983880700019
5) . S2CID 170834913 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:170834913) .

38. William Braxton Irvine, (2009), A guide to the good life: the ancient art of Stoic joy, p. 200.
Oxford University Press

39. Davidson, A.I. (1995) Pierre Hadot and the Spiritual Phenomenon of Ancient Philosophy, in
Philosophy as a Way of Life, Hadot, P. Oxford Blackwells, pp. 9–10

40. Hadot, P. (1992) La Citadelle intérieure. Introduction aux Pensées de Marc Aurèle. Paris, Fayard, pp.
106–15
41. Hadot, P. (1987) Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique. Paris, 2nd ed., p. 135.

42. Mac Suibhne, S. (2009). " 'Wrestle to be the man philosophy wished to make you': Marcus Aurelius,
reflective practitioner". Reflective Practice. 10 (4): 429–36. doi:10.1080/14623940903138266 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.1080%2F14623940903138266) . S2CID 219711815 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/C
orpusID:219711815) .

43. Robertson, D (2010). The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Stoicism as Rational and
Cognitive Psychotherapy (https://books.google.com/books?id=XsOFyJaR5vEC) . London: Karnac.
ISBN 978-1855757561.

44. Hubbard, Thomas K. (2013). A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities. John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN 978-1118610688.

45. Ellis, J. Edward (2007). Paul and Ancient Views of Sexual Desire: Paul's Sexual Ethics in 1
Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 7 and Romans 1. Bloomsbury. pp. 106–19. ISBN 978-0567446213.

46. Crompton, Louis (2009). Homosexuality and Civilization. Harvard University Press. pp. 66–67.
ISBN 978-0674030060.

47. Neill, James (2011). The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies. McFarland.
pp. 210–13. ISBN 978-0786469260.

48. Epictetus, Discourses, ii. 5. 26

49. Epictetus, Discourses, i. 9. 1

50. Seneca, Moral letters to Lucilius, Letter 47: On master and slave, 10, circa AD 65.

51. "On the Duties of the Clergy" (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3401.htm) .

www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 1 March 2017.

52. Aurelius, Marcus (1964). Meditations (https://archive.org/details/meditations0000marc_m9z0) .

London: Penguin Books. p. 26 (https://archive.org/details/meditations0000marc_m9z0/page/26) .
ISBN 978-0140441406.

53. Marcus Aurelius (1964). Meditations (https://archive.org/details/meditations0000marc_m9z0) .

London: Penguin Books. p. 25 (https://archive.org/details/meditations0000marc_m9z0/page/25) .
ISBN 978-0140441406.

54. Kee, Howard and Franklin W. Young, Understanding The New Testament, Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey, Prentice Hall, Inc. 1958, p. 208. ISBN 978-0139365911

55. "Stoicism | Definition, History, & Influence | Britannica" (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stoicis

m) . www.britannica.com.
56. Agathias. Histories, 2.31.

57. David, Sedley. "Ancient philosophy" (http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/A130) . In E. Craig (ed.).

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 18 October 2008.

58. Musonius Rufus. "Lecture XII "On Sexual Indulgence" (https://sites.google.com/site/thestoiclife/the_

teachers/musonius-rufus/lectures/12) ." Musonius Rufus: The Roman Socrates (Lectures and
Fragments), Introduction and Translation by Cora E. Lutz, From Volume X of the Yale Classical
Studies, Yale University Press, 1947

59. The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early
Christianity. (https://books.google.com/books?id=oD55Um42RowC&printsec=frontcover&hl=en&sou
rce=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q=Origen%20Stoicism&f=false) From University of California Press,
2003

60. Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2019. Paragraph 2366 (htt
ps://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P86.HTM#:~:text=2366%20) .

Further reading

Primary sources E…
A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987.

Inwood, Brad & Gerson Lloyd P. (eds.) The Stoics Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia
Indianapolis: Hackett 2008.

Long, George Enchiridion by Epictetus, Prometheus Books, Reprint Edition, January 1955.

Gill C. Epictetus, The Discourses, Everyman 1995.

Irvine, William, A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2008) ISBN 978-0195374612

Hadas, Moses (ed.), Essential Works of Stoicism, Bantam Books 1961.

Harvard University Press Epictetus Discourses Books 1 and 2, Loeb Classical Library Nr.
131, June 1925.
 Harvard University Press Epictetus Discourses Books 3 and 4, Loeb Classical Library Nr.
218, June 1928.

Long, George, Discourses of Epictetus, Kessinger Publishing, January 2004.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (transl. Robin Campbell), Letters from a Stoic:
Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium (1969, reprint 2004) ISBN 0140442103

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, translated by Maxwell Staniforth; ISBN 0140441409, or

translated by Gregory Hays; ISBN 0679642609. Also Available on wikisource translated
by various translators

Oates, Whitney Jennings, The Stoic and Epicurean Philosophers, The Complete Extant
Writings of Epicurus, Epictetus, Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius, Random House, 9th printing
1940.

Studies E…
Bakalis, Nikolaos, Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics. Analysis and
Fragments, Trafford Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1412048435

Becker, Lawrence C., A New Stoicism (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998)
ISBN 0691016607

Brennan, Tad, The Stoic Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; paperback 2006)

Brooke, Christopher. Philosophic Pride: Stoicism and Political Thought from Lipsius to
Rousseau (Princeton UP, 2012) excerpts (http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9737.html)

Hall, Ron, Secundum Naturam (According to Nature) (http://books.google.com/books/abou

t?id=h6AREAAAQBAJ) . Stoic Therapy, LLC, 2021.

Inwood, Brad (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to The Stoics (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2003)

Lachs, John, Stoic Pragmatism (Indiana University Press, 2012) ISBN 0253223768

Long, A. A., Stoic Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1996; repr. University of California
Press, 2001) ISBN 0520229746
Robertson, Donald, The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Stoicism as Rational
and Cognitive Psychotherapy (London: Karnac, 2010) ISBN 978-1855757561

Robertson, Donald, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus
Aurelius (https://books.google.gr/books?id=xGBbDwAAQBAJ) . 'New York: St. Martin's
Press, 2019.

Sellars, John, Stoicism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) ISBN 1844650537

Stephens, William O., Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom (London: Continuum,
2007) ISBN 0826496083

Strange, Steven (ed.), Stoicism: Traditions and Transformations (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ.
Press, 2004) ISBN 0521827094

Zeller, Eduard; Reichel, Oswald J., The Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics, Longmans, Green,
and Co., 1892

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Stoicism

Baltzly, Dirk. "Stoicism" (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/) . In Zalta, Edward N.

(ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

"Stoicism" (http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/stoicism.htm) . Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

"Stoic Ethics" (http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/stoiceth.htm) . Internet Encyclopedia of

Philosophy.

"Stoic Philosophy of Mind" (http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/stoicmind.htm) . Internet

Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Hicks, Robert Drew (1911). "Stoics"  (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_

Britannica/Stoics) . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).

The Stoic Therapy eLibrary (https://www.stoictherapy.com/elibrary)

The Stoic Library (http://www.ibiblio.org/stoicism/)

 Stoic Logic: The Dialectic from Zeno to Chrysippus (http://www.historyoflogic.com/logic-st
oics.htm)

Annotated Bibliography on Ancient Stoic Dialectic (http://www.historyoflogic.com/biblio/lo

gic-stoics-biblio-one.htm)

"A bibliography on Stoicism by the Stoic Foundation" (http://stoicfoundation.host-ed.me/bib

liography.htm) . Archived (https://www.webcitation.org/6At6hE72Q?url=http://stoicfound
ation.host-ed.me/bibliography.htm) from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved
14 September 2012.

BBC Radio 4's In Our Time programme on Stoicism (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inou

rtime/inourtime_20050303.shtml) (requires Flash)

An introduction to Stoic Philosophy (http://users.hartwick.edu/burringtond/stoics/intro.h

tml)

The Stoic Registry (formerly New Stoa) :Online Stoic Community (http://thestoicregistry.or
g)

Modern Stoicism (Stoic Week and Stoicon) (https://modernstoicism.com)

The Four Stoic Virtues (https://www.orionphilosophy.com/stoic-blog/4-stoic-virtues/)

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