Zeno (342-270 B.C.) was the founder of the Stoic School. He was followed by Cleanthes and Chrysippus. Stoicism flourished for many years not only in Greece but also in Rome. The famous Roman Stoics were Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus. We need only, however, discuss the central ideas of Stoicism to which all Stoic thinkers subscribed.
Stoicism rejected the idealism of Plato. According to stoicism, knowledge consists of the sense impressions which get imprinted in the mind. Mental activity is solely limited to these materials received from senses. This is in opposition to the Platonic view that mind is the source of knowledge and that senses are sources of error and illusion. Stoics denied the reality of the Platonic Forms or concepts. Concepts are simply ideas in the mind which are formed by noting the common features shared by particularobjectslike chairs,tables or bricks. Concepts have no existenceoutside human mind.
Knowledge refers to objects which senses perceive and convey as impressions to mind. Truth meansthe correspondence of senseimpressions to objects.Howcanone be surethat sensoryimages are faithful copies of objects? The Stoicanswer to thisquestion is that objectswhicharereal,produce an intense feeling in the mind. This creates a conviction of truth in the perceiver’s mind. Thus truth becomes a subjective concept linked to one’s feeling. Truth cannot in any case lie in concepts which are mental creations.
Stoics combined their faith in knowledge as derived from senses with materialism. They denied the existence of non–material entities. Plato located knowledge in thought and reality in Forms. Stoics place knowledge in (to use a modern phrase) what sense data reveal or in material realm. They regard human soul and God as material. Without getting into arcane philosophical discussion, we may simply note that Stoics reasoned that the universe is a unity and cannot consist of two distinct principles–one material and the other non material or spiritual. They felt that no interactions can occur between entities governed by such disparate principles.
In spite of their materialism, Stoics regarded God as absolute reason governing the universe. Two conclusions follow from this view. One is that the world has a purpose, and is marked by order, harmony, beauty and design. It implies that world is governed by strict necessity of cause and effect. The second conclusion is that freedom of will cannot exist in a world governed by necessity. Men imagine that they generally act voluntarily. But this is only their manner of speaking and does not mean the absence of necessity.
The Stoic ethic is built around two premises. One is that the universe is governed by absolute laws without any exceptions. The other is that reason is the essential attribute of man. The Stoic exhortation that ‘one should live according to nature’ sums up the two premises. This exhortation means that men should live according to nature and their reason.
The idea that men should follow the laws of nature may not amount to much. The belief that nature reveals or sanctions certain morals hardly seems credible to modern men. Belief in nature as a source of human laws or morals has virtually disappeared. Further, men can do little or nothing about the operation of natural laws like those of gravitation or conservation of mass.
The second idea that reason should govern conduct is readily intelligible. Stoics define virtue as the life according to reason. Morality consists in rational action. Men should follow not their inclinations or caprices but their reason. The wise man subordinates his life to the life of the whole universe of which he is an infinitesimally small part.
The idea that individual morality ought to be grounded in reason is not new. It is found in both Plato and Aristotle. But in many ways, Stoics have pushed this point to absurd lengths and reached odd conclusions. Although Aristotle regarded reason as the guide to human conduct, he recognised passions and appetites as embedded in human nature. He, therefore, proposed that emotions should be brought under the control of reason. He did not prescribe that they should be eliminated. In contrast, Stoics recommend extremely rigorous asceticism which runs counter to ordinary human nature.
Similarly, although Aristotlerecognised that virtue alone hasintrinsic value, he allowed some space for external circumstances and comforts in the good life. But Stoics are quite unrelenting in their attitude. In their doctrine, virtue alone is good, only vice is evil, and all else is a matter of absolute indifference. This approach means that poverty, ill health, suffering and death are not evils. Wealth, sound health, joy and life are not goods. Pleasure is not a good, and needs to be shunned. The sole happiness is virtue. But virtue has to be practised not as a means to happiness but as a duty. Stoics did not regard suicide as a vice since life has no value.
As virtue is based on pure reason which is knowledge, sciences have only an instrumental value as foundations of morality. Here we may recall the use to which Epicureans put a scientific doctrine such as atomism i.e. mainly to remove men’s fears about life after death. The chief virtue from which other virtues arise is wisdom. The expressions ‘wise man’ and ‘good man’ are synonyms. The four cardinal virtues – bravery, insight, self control and justice – originate from wisdom. Any wise man will ipso facto have these virtues. Here, we need to note another strange view of stoicism. The wise man possesses all virtues, and a fool has no virtue at all. The society is divided into the wise who are absolutely virtuous and the unwise who are totally sinful. We would now call this a black or white view which ignores the shades of grey – as prevalent in morals as elsewhere in human life. The wise man becomes the embodiment of perfection. He can fit into any ideal type – such as a king, prophet, scholar or general.
As is to be expected, the stoics were compelled to dilute their extreme views in some ways. Since extirpation of passions (besides being impossible) will lead to total inactivity, they permitted mild and rational emotions. Among the things classified as matters of indifference, they allowed for some choice. Thus a wise man may prefer health to sickness. Finally, instead of branding every one as either good or bad, they conceded that heroes and statesman of history are touched by evil in a lesser degree than common men.
There is one aspect in which Stoics were far in advance of their times – that is in their cosmopolitanism. They based this conviction on two grounds. The world is one and is ruled by one God.Theotherground is that menessentiallysharethe same nature in beingrational. As an eminent scholar observes “…there is something grand and noble about their zeal for duty, their exaltation above all that is petty and paltry, their uncompromising contempt for all lower ends”. According to Schwegler, their merit was that “in an age of ruin they held fast to the moral idea”.
Summary of Stoic Philosophy
• Zeno (342-270 B.C.) was the founder of Stoicism. The famous Roman Stoics were Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus.
• Stoicism rejected the idealism of Plato. Concepts have no existence outside human mind.
• The world has a purpose, and is marked by order.
• Freedom of will cannot exist in a world governed by necessity.
• Men should follow not their inclinations or caprices but their reason.
• Stoics push to great lengths their opposition to pleasures and the need to control human passions.
• Stoics recommend extremely rigorous asceticism which runs counter to ordinary human nature.
• Stoics are quite unrelenting in their attitude. In their doctrine, virtue alone is good, onlyvice is evil, and all else is a matter of absolute indifference.
• The wise man possesses all virtues, and a fool has no virtue at all. This is a strange view.
• Stoics were far in advance of their times in their cosmopolitanism.