Stoicism

1. Brief History on the Philosopher and how the idealism/theory has come about.
 Stoicism originated as a Hellenistic philosophy, founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium

(modern day Cyprus), c. 300 B.C.E. It was influenced by Socrates and the Cynics, and it
engaged in vigorous debates with the Skeptics, the Academics, and the Epicureans.
 Originally called Zenoism, came to be known as Stoicism because Zeno and the stoic
leaders met in the Stoa Poikilê, or Painted Porch.
 Three Stoic Leaders: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus
 Marcus Aurelius - The last good emperor of the Roman Empire, the most
powerful man on earth. He wrote nightly in his journal about his struggles to live
as a restrained, wise and virtuous human being. He wrote them for himself
entirely, later his writings were uncovered, collected, and published under the
title Meditations. The collection is now recognized as one of the most influential
Stoic texts. His writings are a direct look at the thoughts of a practicing Stoic,
and he stands as an incredible example of how Stoic strategies can help
individuals deal with stressful situations.
 Lucius Annaeus Seneca - Was Rome’s best playwright and wisest power broker,
which gave him real charisma and a way with words. HAlso, Seneca’s thoughts
resonate with modern audiences, due to his unusually practical considerations
of topics e had a particularly simple, entertaining and memorable way of
explaining Stoicism, which has placed his writings among the very best ways for
beginners to engage with the philosophy. like friendship, mortality, altruism and
the proper use of time.
 Epictetus - Born a slave, gone a legend. He founded his own school and taught
many of Rome’s greatest minds, one of which was Marcus Aurelius. Epictetus’
handbook, The Enchiridion, is an especially practical look at how to implement
the Stoic philosophy in one’s life. He had a particular talent for explaining how
Stoic strategies improve one’s quality of life and made a compelling case for
why one might want to make Stoicism their primary operating system. Many of
his teachings have become recognizable, without being known as his. For
instance, one of his principles is at the basis of the: serenity prayer: “God grant
me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I
can, And wisdom to know the difference.”
 Zeno of Citium - Having shipwrecked near Athens, he turned his misfortune into
an opportunity by taking advantage of all the philosophical resources available
in the city. He sat in on lectures from the other schools of philosophy (e.g.,
Cynicism, Epicureanism) and eventually started his own. He would teach his
theory on the Stoa Poikile (a famously painted porch in Athens), and it is from
this Greek word for porch “stōïkos” that the term Stoicism came.
2. Definition/Explanation
 tool set that helps us direct our thoughts and actions in an unpredictable world. We
don’t control and cannot rely on external events, but we can (to a certain extent)
control our mind and choose our behavior.
 “Stoicism teaches how to keep a calm and rational mind no matter what happens to you
and it helps you understand and focus on what you can control and not worry about and
accept what you can't control.”
 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).
 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," 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).
3. Application
 Live by Virtue - Goal of life Good Life ; Living in agreement with nature’ is about
behaving rationally like a human instead of randomly (and out of passion) like a beast. In
other words, we should always apply our natural ability ‘reason’ in all of our actions. If
we apply reason we live in agreement with nature, because we act like humans are
meant to act.
 Live in Agreement by nature - To the Stoics it was clear that virtue must be its own
reward. You do something because it is the right thing to do. You act in agreement
with nature, with reason, and according to the cardinal virtues for its own sake. It does
not matter what you get out of it, since acting according to virtue is rewarding in itself as
you are progressing towards the Good Life.
 Focus on What You Can Control, Accept What You Can’t - “Make the best use of what is
in your power, and take the rest as it happens. Some things are up to us and some
things are not up to us.” – Epictetus. We must carefully distinguish between what is ‘up
to us’, or within our own power, and what is not. Up to us are our voluntary choices,
namely our actions and judgements, while everything else is not under our control.
4. Examples
 Imagine a dog leashed to a moving cart. The leash is long enough that the dog has two
options: (1) either he can smoothly follow the direction of the cart, over which he has no
control, and at the same time enjoy the ride and explore the surroundings, (2) or he can
stubbornly resist the cart with all his force and end up being dragged for the rest of the
trip anyway.
 We are that dog. Either we make the best of the trip or we fight against every little
decision the cart driver makes. One way is effortless and joyful, the other is exhausting
and miserable. You choose. To be clear, accepting the direction and speed of the cart,
accepting whatever happens, has nothing to do with giving up.
 The cart always keeps moving. Change is inevitable. In the words of Ryan Holiday, “To
get upset by things is to wrongly assume that they will last… To resent change is to
wrongly assume that you have a choice in the matter.”
 In Ryan Holiday’s words, “This has nothing to do with action – this is for the things that
are immune to action. It is far easier to talk of the way things should be. It takes
toughness, humility, and will to accept them for what they actually are. It takes a real
man or woman to face necessity.”
5. Take away
 Through practicing stoics, we can overcome destructive emotions.
6. Tag line/summary(in one sentence)
 It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

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1. Brief History on the Philosopher and how the idealism/theory has come about.

 Stoicism originated as a Hellenistic philosophy, founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium

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