Stoicism

Introduction to Stoicism

Source: Stoicism as a philosophy for an ordinary life | Massimo Pigliucci | TEDxAthens

Two pillars of Stoicism

• 4 Cardinal Virtuals
  • Wisdom - what is good for you and not
  • Courage - physical and moral courage to do the right thing
  • Justice - what is the right thing, right way to treat people
  • Temperance - do things in right measure, not too much or too little

1. What is Up to Us?

   • Dichotomy of control - some things are up to us and some are not
     • Focus on the functions of your mind that are up to us

   More from an article “Some things are what? …”

   Source: Some things are what? What does the beginning of the Enchiridion mean? – Living Stoicism by James Daltrey

   Quotation from conclusion of the article about first chapter of the Enchiridion:

   Prohairesis, our ability to rationally reflect upon our own judgments about what is to be pursued or avoided is the only thing that is ours, and the only thing of true value. What is not ours, external things, only have value if we avoid or pursue them for the right reasons, in the right way. Anything can interfere with getting or avoiding anything that is not freely ours, so to count on them will lead to disappointment. If we only count on working on what is ours, avoiding bad judgments, and pursuing good judgments about what we should do, we will be truly free from disappointment . To rationally reflect upon our own judgments about what is to be pursued or avoided alone is ours, our business, our work, our task. This is prohairesis, This is virtue. This is ours.

Teachings from Epictetus

• “I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived - and dying I will tend to later” Discourses I.2
  • Lunch is under your control, not death
• ” Some things are in our control and others not. 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 one word, whatever are not our own actions.” Enchiridion 1
  • You can do things, make decisions, but outcomes are not in your control
  • Focus on your intentions
• Happiness as serenity: “If you have the right idea about what really belongs to you and what does not, you will never be subject to force or hindrance, you will never blame or critize anyone, and everything you do will be done willingly” Enchiridion 3

Archery Example for Dichotomy of Control

• You can control practice, equipment, effort
• You cannot control after arrow is released
• Target is chosen, but outcome is not to be desired. from Cicero
  • You self esteem is attached to the effort, not the outcome
• Modern applications:
  • You can apply for a job
    • Focus on effort like your resume and interview. Prepare and work hard as best you can
    • Do not worry if you get or do not get the job
  • Relationships
    • Be the best lovable person you can be
    • Do not worry if that person stays with yo

Playing Roles

• 3 roles we play:

  • Human beings
  • By circumstance (a son, daughter)
  • By choice (career, mother, father)

• Before doing something, ask yourself is it good for humanity? (your role as a human)

• “You are the one that knows yourself, of how much you are worth to yourself and for how much you are selling yourself… Consider at what price you sell your integrity; but please, for God’s sake, don’t sell it cheap.” Discourses I, 2.11,33

  • Be best you can, if you compromise, understand it
  • Be better than yourself yesterday, in small steps. No need to be “perfect”

• Balance: “Reflect on the other social roles you play. … If you are young, what does being young mean, if you are old, what does age imply, if you are a father, what does fatherhood entail? Each of our titles suggests the act appropriate to it.” Discoures II, 10.10

  • Use wisdom and temperance to determine the right to play a role

How do you know what is right?

• Look at role models, focus on approaching their level. Examples of both ancients / modern, don’t need to be perfect
  • Real: Cato the Younger, Porcia Cato / Nelson Mandella, Susan Fowler Rigetti
  • Imaginary: Odysseus / Spider man
• Like actors, we wear different masks. Play the best actor you can possibly be

What is Stoicism

Source from Modern Stoicism by John Sellars

Logic

• What we know, can learn
• About the truth of what we say and consistency of our arguments

Judgements

• Take time, pause before judgements to make a measured and appropriate response.
• If someone speaks bad of you, you were not harmed so it is not a bad thing.

Ethics and Virtue

• Only things good is something that benefits you = excellent character and state of mind
• Money, possession, success, and reputation are not always beneficial, so they are not virtuous

Physics and Interconnectedness

• Way of nature
• All things are connected, rely on others and nature

Conclusion

• Goal: Psychological consistency - consistent character and judgements

“Or to put it the other way around, it’s about making consistent judgements so that we develop the habit of thinking and behaving consistently, which is what a consistent character is.”

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Sources:

• Stoicism - history and approaches
• Stoic Philosophy of Mind

Stoicism | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Stoicism’s goal was a practical philosophy to help people live a virtuous life - the outcome of the ethics part of the philosophy.

Stoicism in the context of philosophies at the time. Founded by Zeno of Citium (Cyprus) ~ 300 BCE:

• Aristotelian approach comes as a bit too aristocratic: if one does not have certain privileges in life, one cannot achieve eudaimonia (i.e. you need both virtue and some health, wealth, good looks, etc.)

• Cynics were preaching a rather extremely minimalist life style (virtue over all things), which is hard to practice for most human beings.

• Stoics looked for a balance endorsing two ideas that virtue is the only true good, in itself sufficient for eudaimonia regardless of one’s circumstances, but also that other things—like health, education, wealth—may be rationally preferred (Proēgmena) or “dispreferred” (Apoproēgmena), as in the case of sickness, ignorance, and poverty, as long as one did not confuse them for things with inherent value.

• In beginning, Stoicism was labeled as “Socratic” with the inspiration - virtue is the chief good.

• Stoics advised Augustus, the 1st emperor of Rome

• Imperial Roman history yields known Stoics in philosophy and politics ranging from fundamental ideas to putting it in practice:

  • Charismatic teachers like Musonius and Epictetus, and on the other hand influential political figures like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius

Glossary of Stoicism Terms

See Glossary

A Simplified Modern Approach to Stoicism

Source by Donald Robertson

• Begin with basic good practices like daily routines.

Morning:

• Set goals, but be detached from their outcomes.
• Reserve clause: All goals are “fate permitting” meaning accept failure and setbacks outside direct control.

Throughout Day:

• Be mindful of judgements and respond to them. Be mindful of strong emotions.
• Good practice:
  • Postpone reactions for at least 1 hour.
  • If feelings are on something outside of your direct control - say “this is nothing to me”. Focus on what you can control.

Serenity Prayer

Give me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The Courage to change the things I can, And the Wisdom to know the difference.

Evening Review:

• Review day 3 times if possible before sleep:
  • What did you do that was good for your fundamental wellbeing? (What went well?)
  • What did you do that harmed your fundamental wellbeing? (What went badly?)
  • What opportunities did you miss to do something good for your fundamental wellbeing? (What was omitted?)
• Counsel yourself like a close friend or person you love.
• Rate 0-10 how closely you followed these practices here. Praise yourself on good things.
• Evaluate but be concise.

Stoic Philosophy of Mind | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

1. Ethics, Logic, Physics

   Stoicism had 3 fields:

   • Ethics - Stoicism’s goal to help people live a virtuous life
     • “Live consistently with nature” - both universe and human nature.
     • Human nature:
       • We naturally advance our interests and goals (health, wealth, and so forth)
       • We identify with other people’s interests (initially our parents, then friends, then other people)
       • We figure out ways to practically navigate life.
       • “The Stoics related these propensities directly to the four cardinal virtues of temperance, courage, justice and practical wisdom. Temperance and courage are required to pursue our goals, justice is a natural extension of our concern for an ever-increasing circle of people, and practical wisdom (phronêsis) is what best allows us to deal with whatever happens.”
   • Physics - study of the world - modern nature science and metaphysics (including theology)
     • In order to “live according to nature”, Stoics needs to understand nature.
   • Logic - study of how to reason about the world (modern cognitive science)
     • Impressions are needed to form concepts, but ones perceptions can be wrong such as through unconscious judgment
   • How the 3 fields related to each other: > what an agent ought to do (Ethics) is in fact closely informed by that agent’s knowledge of the workings of the world (Physics) as well as her capacity to reason correctly (Logic).
   • Even though ethics is applied with knowledge of logic and physics, it is not necessary to understand all logical and physics to purse virtue. Stoic virtue is to be consistent with nature and nature can be unknowable. Stoics can work with both “Gods or Atoms”.

2. Apatheia and the Stoic Treatment of Emotions

   • apatheia = freedom from passion, we will not be concerned with things that do not matter and rejoice in things that do matter
   • ataraxia = imperturbability, literally “without trouble,” sometimes translated as “tranquility”
   • Both apatheia and ataraxia are components of the eudaimonic (virtuous) life
   • Health passions:
     • Caution or discretion - rational aversion of vice and harmful things
     • Wishing or willing - rational desire for virtue
     • Joy or delight - rational elation over virtue
   • Unhealthy passions
     • Pain - failure to avoid something mistakenly judged as bad
     • Fear - irrational expectation of something bad
     • Craving - irrational striving for something mistakenly judged as good
     • Pleasure - irrational elation over something that is not worth choosing
   • Apatheia is movement towards healthy passions. Passions are the result of our judgment to an impression (giving “assent” to an “impression”). Stoics understand we have instinctive reactions and focus on our control of judgments on the causes of instinctive reactions.

Example Stoic Philosophy Regime

Source: Practices, related to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - Mental Health Cognitive Therapy:

Contemplations

• “What would he do?” / Contemplation of the Sage: Imagine the ideal Sage or exemplary historical figures (Socrates, Diogenes, Cato) or imagine being observed by them and how they would comment on your actions.
• Contemplating the Virtues of Other People: Look for examples of virtues among your friends, family, colleagues, etc.
• Contemplating the Whole Cosmos: Imagine the whole universe as if it were one thing and yourself as part of the whole.
• “Watch from far away” / Contemplating the Whole Cosmos: Imagine the whole universe as if it were one thing and yourself as part of the whole, or the View from Above: Picture events unfolding below as if observed from Mount Olympus or a watchtower.
• Contemplation of Death (momento mori): Contemplate your own death regularly, the deaths of loved ones and even the demise of the universe itself.
• Contemplate the Transience of all Things: When you lose something or someone say “I have given it back” instead of “I have lost it”, and view change as natural and inevitable.

Training and Reasoning

• Self-Control Training: Take physical exercise to strengthen self-discipline, practice drinking just water, eat plain food, live modestly, etc.
• Objective Representation: Describe events to yourself in objective language, without rhetoric or value judgements.
• Postponement: Delay responding to things that evoke passion until you have regained your composure.
• The Financial Metaphor: View your actions as financial transactions and consider whether your behaviour is profitable, e.g., if you sacrifice externals but gain virtue that’s profitable but, by contrast, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses himself.”
• Picture the Consequences: Imagine what will happen if you act on a desire and compare this to what will happen if you resist it.
• Double Standard: When something upsetting happens to you, imagine how you would view the same thing if it befell someone else and say, “Such things happen in life.”
• Empathy: Remember that no man does evil knowingly and when someone does what doesn’t seem right, say to yourself: “It seemed so to him.”

Confirmations

• Accepting Fate (Amor Fati): Rather than seeking for things to be as you will, rather will for things to be as they are, and your life will go smoothly and serenely.
• “Indifference to disaster” / Premeditation of Adversity: Mentally rehearse potential losses or misfortunes and view them as “indifferent” de-catastrophizing), also view them as natural and inevitable to remove any sense of shock or surprise.
• Say to External Things: “It is nothing to me.”
• Say Over Loved-Ones: “Tomorrow you will die.”
• Cognitive Distancing: Tell yourself it is your judgement that upset you and not the thing itself.

Stoicism - Use Journaling, Distancing, Second/Third Pronouns 2023-11-06

Source: The Perils of “I, Me, Mine,” and the Surprising Antidote | Psychology Today

Counter self talk with:

• Create distance by using:

  • Use second or third-person pronouns (e.g., “you,” “he,” “she”) or using one’s own name when addressing oneself
  • Do not use first-person pronouns (e.g., “I,” “me,” “mine”)

• Use your own name or “you” is powerful and simply to control inner voices and create distance by observing situations and commenting on them

• Make journals

• In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius practiced those three things in his personal diary

Stoicism 3 Disciplines

Source: Introduction to Stoicism: The Three Disciplines – Donald J. Robertson

By Donald Robertson, adapted from French scholar Pierre Hadot who wrote am analysis of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations called The Inner Citadel (1998)

The Discipline of Desire (Stoic Acceptance)

Stoic topic of physics

virtue of living in harmony with the Nature of the universe as a whole

Accept what comes as necessary and inevitable and have courage to do it. Acceptance gives the courage to resist bad situations.

Epictetus wrote in Enchiridion:

“Seek not for events to happen as you wish but wish events to happen as they do and your life will go smoothly and serenely.”

The Discipline of Action (Stoic Philanthropy)

Stoic topic of ethics

• Includes definition of the cardinal Stoic virtues: wisdom, justice, courage, and self-discipline

According to the central doctrine of Stoicism, virtue is the only true good and sufficient by itself for the good life and fulfilment (eudaimonia)… Stoics do their best to act with virtue while accepting the outcome of their actions in a somewhat detached manner, whether success or failure.

Actions are done:

• In harmony with nature and other people
• With “reserve clause” = fate willingly
• For common welfare of people, like philanthropy
• With understanding of value

The Discipline of Assent (Stoic Mindfulness)

Stoic topic of logic, includes psychology

Associated with virtue of wisdom, truth, and justice. For judgements, stoicism is mainly interested in our own value-judgements.

By continually monitoring their judgements, Stoics are to notice the early-warning signs of upsetting or unhealthy impressions and take a step back from them, withholding their “assent” or agreement, rather than being “carried away” into irrational and unhealthy passions and the vices.

Conclusion: The Goal of Life (Follow Nature)

Be in harmony with nature, service to mankind, and perfecting reasoning and cardinal virtues of wisdom, justice, courage, and self-discipline.

Stoicism Ancient and Modern

Source by Tony A. A. Long

Epictetus distinguishes between the things “up to us” (our mental and moral life) and the things “not up to us” (our bodies and external states of affairs)… Success depends on other things besides our individual minds and motivations and plans (such things as our physical health and strength, the people around us, impersonal circumstances, and accidents). Therefore successful achievement is not itself a good, a credit or benefit to us as individual agents.

• Our success outside of the mind, depends on things not under our control, so successful should not in itself be viewed as good.

Stoic Authors and Works

• Sources: 1, 2
• Zeno (founder)
• Epictetus
  • Enchiridion
• Seneca
  • Letters
• Cicero
  • De Officiis
• Marcus Aurelius
  • Meditations
  • His biographies
• Chrysippus
• Cato the Younger
  • His biographies
• Odysseus was an honourary Stoic hero

Modern Works

• Cambridge Companion to the Stoics
• CBT information by Donald Robertson
• Irvine (2008) - trichotomy of control - things you control, not control, and partially control
• Becker (1997) - modernized physics, natural science views with ancient Stoicism

Takeaways

“42” in number of words

• 4 - Aim for psychological consistency - consistent character and judgements or making judgements consistently to develop thinking and behaving consistently. Live consistently with nature; both universe and human nature.
• 2 - Daily practice:
  • Set goals with note that they are “fate permitting”
  • Postpone judgements at least 1 hour, take time when making them. Let emotions come as they are natural and judge them as neither good nor bad.
  • Things that we do not control - “this is nothing to me”
  • Evaluate (good, bad, missed opportunities, counsel yourself, rate 0-10)

See Also

• Stoicism and Artificial Intelligence - Stoicism and Artificial Intelligence (AI)