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106-504: Alongside Aristotle's ethics , the Stoic tradition forms one of the major founding approaches to virtue ethics . The Stoics are especially known for teaching that "virtue is the only good" for human beings, and that external things, such as health, wealth, and pleasure, are not good or bad in themselves ( adiaphora ) but have value as "material for virtue to act upon". Many Stoics—such as Seneca and Epictetus —emphasized that because "virtue

212-459: A Corinthian , but a citizen of the world." 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

318-422: 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". 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

424-513: 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 ). Philosopher Julian Baggini has characterized what constitutes one being a Stoic: "To become a stoic is to endorse the truthfulness of its worldview and accept its prescription for how you ought to live, not just to like how it makes you feel." Baggini asserts that

530-524: A 1974 excavation, a lead tablet was discovered. The tablet was a letter written by Lesis , a slave. It was one of the few recorded instances of slave literacy. Evidence of planting was discovered during the excavations and on 4 January 1954, the first oak and laurel trees were planted around the Altar of Zeus by Queen Frederika and King Paul as part of the efforts to restore the site with plants that would have been found there in antiquity. The museum

636-444: A Greek word often translated as well-being, happiness or "human flourishing". Like many ethicists, Aristotle regards excellent activity as pleasurable for the man of virtue. For example, Aristotle thinks that the man whose appetites are in the correct order takes pleasure in acting moderately. Aristotle emphasized that virtue is practical, and that the purpose of ethics is to become good, not merely to know. Aristotle also claims that

742-783: A Muslim living in Europe, was particularly influential in turn upon European Christian philosophers, theologians and political thinkers. In the twelfth century, Latin translations of Aristotle's works were made, enabling the Dominican priest Albert the Great and his pupil Thomas Aquinas to synthesize Aristotle's philosophy with Christian theology. Later the medieval church scholasticism in Western Europe insisted on Thomist views and suppressed non-Aristotelian metaphysics. Aquinas' writings are full of references to Aristotle, and he wrote

848-408: 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 "), an active process of constant practice and self-reminder. Epictetus in his Discourses , distinguished between three types of act: judgment, desire, and inclination. which Hadot identifies these three acts with logic, physics and ethics respectively. Hadot writes that in

954-562: A beginning or end to the Universe. According to the Stoics, the logos was the active reason 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

1060-409: A belief in human kinship with Nature or God, a sense of the innate depravity—or "persistent evil"—of humankind, 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 influence can also be seen in

1166-442: A certain way; I am the father of my children, the fellow citizen of my fellow citizens, disposed in a certain way in relation to something else. 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

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1272-488: 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." This principle also applies to the realm of interpersonal relationships; "to be free from anger, envy, and jealousy", and to accept even slaves as "equals of other men, because all men alike are products of nature". The Stoic ethic espouses

1378-529: A colossal statue of Apollo for the Temple of Apollo Patroos on the west side of the agora. The ancient Athenian agora has been excavated by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) since 1931 under the direction of Thomas Leslie Shear , Sr. His wife, Josephine Platner Shear , supervised the digging and led the study and conservation of numismatics from the site, as well as making

1484-707: A commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics . Aquinas also departed from Aristotle in certain respects. In particular, his Summa Theologica argued that Eudaimonia or human flourishing was held to be a temporary goal for this life, but perfect happiness as the ultimate goal could only be attained in the next life by the virtuous. Aquinas also added new theological virtues to Aristotle's system: faith, hope and charity. And supernatural assistance could help people to achieve virtue. Nevertheless, much of Aristotle's ethical thought remained intact in Aquinas. Aristotle's ethics continued to be highly influential for many centuries. After

1590-600: A disciple of Socrates . Zeno's most influential successor was Chrysippus , who followed Cleanthes as leader of the school, and was responsible for molding what is now called Stoicism. Stoicism became the foremost popular philosophy among the educated elite in the Hellenistic world and the Roman Empire to the point where, in the words of Gilbert Murray , "nearly all the successors of Alexander [...] professed themselves Stoics". Later Roman Stoics focused on promoting

1696-472: A few letters , Aristotle wrote treatises in which he sets forth philosophical doctrines directly. According to Aristotle in his Metaphysics , Socrates was the first Greek philosopher to concentrate on ethics, although he apparently did not give it this name, as a philosophical inquiry concerning how people should best live. Aristotle dealt with this same question but giving it two names, "the political" (or Politics) and "the ethical" (Ethics), with Politics being

1802-615: A life in harmony within the universe within which we are active participants. Scholars usually divide the history of Stoicism into three phases: the Early Stoa, from Zeno's founding to Antipater ; the Middle Stoa, including Panaetius and Posidonius ; and the 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

1908-482: A musical instrument. In Book III of the Nicomachean Ethics , Aristotle argues that a person's character is voluntary, since it results from many individual actions which are under his voluntary control. Aristotle distinguishes the disposition to feel emotions of a certain kind from virtue and vice. But such emotional dispositions may also lie at a mean between two extremes, and these are also to some extent

2014-719: A part of secular education. Aristotle's teachings spread through the Mediterranean and the Middle East, where some early Islamic regimes allowed rational philosophical descriptions of the natural world. Al-Farabi was a major influence in all medieval philosophy and wrote many works which included attempts to reconcile the ethical and political writings of Plato and Aristotle. Later Avicenna , and later still Averroes , were Islamic philosophers who commented on Aristotle as well as writing their own philosophy in Arabic. Averroes,

2120-485: A person behaved. To live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order since they believed everything was rooted in nature. Stoicism flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century CE, and among its adherents was Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius . It experienced a decline after Christianity became the state religion in the 4th century CE. Since then, it has seen revivals, notably in

2226-443: A portion of the divine logos , which is the primordial Fire and reason that controls and sustains the Universe. The foundation of Stoic ethics is that good lies in the state of the soul itself, in wisdom and self-control. One must therefore strive to be free of the passions . For the Stoics, reason meant using logic and understanding the processes of nature—the logos or universal reason, inherent in all things. The Greek word pathos

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2332-462: A result of up-bringing and habituation. Two examples of such dispositions would be modesty, or a tendency to feel shame, which Aristotle discusses in NE IV.9; and righteous indignation ( nemesis ), which is a balanced feeling of sympathetic pain concerning the undeserved pleasures and pains of others. Exactly which habitual dispositions are virtues or vices and which only concern emotions, differs between

2438-1118: 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". 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 ". The Stoics held that all beings ( ὄντα )—though not all things (τινά)—are material . Besides

2544-409: 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

2650-430: A virtuous life, such as if they fell victim to severe pain or disease, but otherwise suicide would usually be seen as a rejection of one's social duty. For example, Plutarch reports 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. A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism ; according to

2756-459: A virtuous person, if they can come into being, will choose the best life of all, which is the philosophical life of contemplation and speculation. Aristotle claims that a human's highest functioning must include reasoning, being good at what sets humans apart from everything else. Or, as Aristotle explains it, "The function of man is activity of soul in accordance with reason, or at least not without reason." He identifies two different ways in which

2862-480: Is "a rigidly deterministic single whole". This viewpoint was later described as " Classical Pantheism " (and was adopted by Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza ). 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

2968-503: 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, space and

3074-424: Is accordingly widely known as "the function argument," and is among the most-discussed arguments made by any ancient philosopher. He argues that while humans undergo nutrition and growth, so do other living things, and while humans are capable of perception, this is shared with animals ( NE I.1098b22-1098a15). Thus neither of these characteristics is particular to humans. According to Aristotle, what remains and what

3180-681: Is consistent with one's own decision is called " akrasia ", and may be translated as weakness of will, incontinence, or lack of self-mastery. Vices of courage must also be identified which are cowardice and recklessness. Soldiers who are not prudent act with cowardice, and soldiers who do not have temperance act with recklessness. One should not be unjust toward their enemy no matter the circumstance. On another note, one becomes virtuous by first imitating another who exemplifies such virtuous characteristics, practicing such ways in their daily lives, turning those ways into customs and habits by performing them each and every day, and finally, connecting or uniting

3286-422: Is described below. Aristotle describes popular accounts about what kind of life would be a eudaimonic one by classifying them into three most common types: a life dedicated to pleasure; a life dedicated to fame and honor; and a life dedicated to contemplation ( NE I.1095b17-19). To reach his own conclusion about the best life, however, Aristotle tries to isolate the function of humans. The argument he develops here

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3392-448: Is distinctively human is reason. Thus he concludes that the human function is some kind of excellent exercise of the intellect. And, since Aristotle thinks that practical wisdom rules over the character excellences, exercising such excellences is one way to exercise reason and thus fulfill the human function. One common objection to Aristotle's function argument is that it uses descriptive or factual premises to derive conclusions about what

3498-427: Is good. Such arguments are often thought to run afoul of the is-ought gap . In his ethical works, Aristotle describes eudaimonia as the highest human good. In Book I of the Nicomachean Ethics he goes on to identify eudaimonia as the excellent exercise of the intellect, leaving it open whether he means practical activity or intellectual activity. With respect to practical activity, in order to exercise any one of

3604-526: Is housed in the Stoa of Attalos , and its exhibits are connected with Athenian democracy . The collection of the museum includes clay, bronze and glass objects, sculptures, coins and inscriptions from the 7th to the 5th century B.C., as well as pottery of the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. The exhibition within the museum contains works of art which describe the private and public life in ancient Athens. In 2012,

3710-472: 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. According to the Stoics, the Universe is a material reasoning substance ( logos ), which was divided into two classes:

3816-416: Is our own doing." These suggest a space that is up to us or within our power. A simple example of the Stoic categories in use is provided by Jacques Brunschwig: I am a certain lump of matter, and thereby a substance, an existent something (and thus far that is all); I am a man, and this individual man that I am, and thereby qualified by a common quality and a peculiar one; I am sitting or standing, disposed in

3922-421: Is owed to them. Particular justice is the correct distribution of just deserts to others. For Aristotle, such justice is proportional—it has to do with people receiving what is proportional to their merit or their worth. In his discussion of particular justice, Aristotle says an educated judge is needed to apply just decisions regarding any particular case. This is where we get the image of the scales of justice,

4028-508: Is red, it would be because some part of a universal red body had entered the object. They held that there were four categories : The Stoics outlined that our own actions, thoughts, and reactions are within our control. The opening paragraph of the Enchiridion states the categories as: "Some things in the world are up to us, while others are not. Up to us are our faculties of judgment, motivation, desire, and aversion. In short, whatever

4134-471: Is regarded by many as the father of early versions of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Stoic philosophy was the original philosophical inspiration for modern cognitive psychotherapy , particularly as mediated by Albert Ellis' Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), the major precursor of CBT. The original cognitive therapy treatment manual for depression by Aaron T. Beck et al. states, "The philosophical origins of cognitive therapy can be traced back to

4240-415: Is sufficient for happiness ", a sage would be emotionally resilient to misfortune. 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

4346-524: Is the disposition (Greek hexis ) to act excellently, which a person develops partly as a result of his upbringing, and partly as a result of his habit of action. Aristotle develops his analysis of character in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics , where he makes this argument that character arises from habit—likening ethical character to a skill that is acquired through practice, such as learning

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4452-457: Is the only evil; no cause for anger—for others cannot harm you. The Stoics arranged the passions under four headings: distress, pleasure, fear and lust. One report of the Stoic definitions of these passions appears in the treatise On Passions by Chrysippus (trans. Long & Sedley, pg. 411, modified): Two of these passions (distress and delight) refer to emotions currently present, and two of these (fear and lust) refer to emotions directed at

4558-802: The Posterior Analytics and Nicomachean Ethics he identified five intellectual virtues as the five ways the soul arrives at truth by affirmation or denial. These are then separated into three classes: Subjacent intellectual virtues in Aristotle: Aristotle's writings were taught in the Academy in Athens until 529 CE when the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I closed down non-Christian schools of philosophy. Aristotle's work however continued to be taught as

4664-647: The Classical Agora ) is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora , located to the northwest of the Acropolis and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill known as the Agoraios Kolonos , also called Market Hill. The Agora's initial use was for a commercial, assembly, or residential gathering place. A number of other notable monuments were added to

4770-475: The Eudemian Ethics to be "less mature," while others, such as Kenny (1978), contend that the Eudemian Ethics is the more mature, and therefore later, work. Traditionally it was believed that the Nicomachean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle's son and pupil Nicomachus and his disciple Eudemus, respectively, although the works themselves do not explain

4876-498: The Magna Moralia has been doubted, whereas almost no modern scholar doubts that Aristotle wrote the Nicomachean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics himself, even if an editor also played some part in giving us those texts in their current forms. The Nicomachean Ethics has received the most scholarly attention, and is the most easily available to modern readers in many different translations and editions. Some critics consider

4982-568: The Meditations , "Each maxim develops either one of these very characteristic topoi [i.e., acts], or two of them or three of them." Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta is a collection by Hans von Arnim of fragments and testimonia of the earlier Stoics, published in 1903–1905 as part of the Bibliotheca Teubneriana . It includes the fragments and testimonia of Zeno of Citium , Chrysippus and their immediate followers. At first

5088-668: The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle says explicitly that one must begin with what is familiar to us, and "the that" or "the fact that" ( NE I.1095b2-13). Ancient commentators agree that what Aristotle means here is that his treatise must rely upon practical, everyday knowledge of virtuous actions as the starting points of his inquiry, and that he is supposing that his readers have some kind of experience-based understanding of such actions, and that they value noble and just actions to at least some degree. Elsewhere, Aristotle also seems to rely upon common conceptions of how

5194-449: The Nicomachean Ethics to justice (this is also Book IV of the Eudemian Ethics ). In this discussion, Aristotle defines justice as having two different but related senses—general justice and particular justice. General justice is virtue expressed in relation to other people. Thus the just man in this sense deals properly and fairly with others, and expresses his virtue in his dealings with them—not lying or cheating or taking from others what

5300-460: The Renaissance ( Neostoicism ) and in the contemporary era ( modern Stoicism ). 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. The Stoics provided

5406-468: The 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 , 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 does not posit

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5512-540: The Athenian Agora had marble decoration and housed dedications in the form of marble statues. Finds from the agora excavations identified that generations of marble-workers made the agora of Athens an important center for the production of marble sculptures. Marble-workers made sculptures, marble weights, sundials , furniture parts, and an assortment of kitchen utensils. Excavations of the Athenian agora revealed

5618-491: The Athenian agora. These famous marble-workers of the Agora include, the 5th-century master Phidias and his associate Alkamenes , and the 4th-century sculptors Praxiteles , Bryaxis , and Euphranor . Phidias was the most well known marble-worker to have worked in the agora. He was famous for his gold and ivory cult statue of Zeus at Olympia , and for his three lost sculptures of Athena . A well-known associate of Phidias

5724-476: The Athenian agora. These festivals were significant as they provided Ancient Athenian women with the opportunity to socialize outside of the home. Additionally, some of these festivals were performed by women; these duties included officiating the worship of goddess Athena , patron goddess of the city. Performing these rituals for goddesses was a prerequisite for the daughters of aristocratic families . Women of all ranks and classes could be seen making offerings at

5830-452: The Church regarded Stoicism as a "pagan philosophy"; nonetheless, early Christian writers employed some of the central philosophical concepts of Stoicism. Examples include the terms "logos", " virtue ", "Spirit", and " conscience ". 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,

5936-429: The Late Stoa survived. 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. Of all the schools of ancient philosophy, Stoicism made the greatest claim to being utterly systematic. In

6042-597: The Reformation, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics was still the main authority for the discipline of ethics at Protestant universities until the late seventeenth century, with over fifty Protestant commentaries published on the Nicomachean Ethics before 1682. In modern times, Aristotle's writings on ethics remain among the most influential in his broad corpus, along with The Rhetoric, and The Poetics, while his scientific writings tend to be viewed as of more strictly historical interest. Modern science develops theories about

6148-449: The Stoic philosophers". A well-known quotation from Enchiridion of Epictetus was taught to most clients during the initial session of traditional REBT by Ellis and his followers: "It's not the events that upset us, but our judgments about the events." This subsequently became a common element in the socialization phase of many other approaches to CBT. The question of Stoicism's influence on modern psychotherapy, particularly REBT and CBT,

6254-410: The Stoics 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 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

6360-530: 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." This sentiment echoes that of Diogenes of Sinope , who said, "I am not an Athenian or

6466-463: 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

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6572-892: The Younger and Epictetus. In particular, they were noted for their urging of clemency toward slaves . Seneca 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." Plotinus criticized both Aristotle's Categories and those of the Stoics. His student Porphyry , however, defended Aristotle's scheme. He justified this by arguing that they be interpreted strictly as expressions, rather than as metaphysical realities. The approach can be justified, at least in part, by Aristotle's own words in The Categories. Boethius ' acceptance of Porphyry's interpretation led to their being accepted by Scholastic philosophy. The Fathers of

6678-435: The active and the passive. 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". The active substance 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

6784-429: The agora. Some of these included: In the 4th and 5th centuries, there was significant evidence of women being innkeepers and merchants selling their products in the market of the Athenian agora. Some of the products they sold included fruits, clothes, pottery , religious and luxury goods, perfume, incense , purple dye , wreaths, and ribbons. The Athenian calendar boasted several religious festivals that were held in

6890-1043: The blindfolded judge symbolizing blind justice, balancing the scales, weighing all the evidence and deliberating each particular case individually. Aristotle analyzed virtues into moral and intellectual virtues. Intellectual virtues are qualities of mind and character that promote intellectual flourishing, critical thinking, and the pursuit of truth. They include: intellectual responsibility, perseverance , open-mindedness, empathy , integrity , intellectual courage , confidence in reason, love of truth, intellectual humility, imaginativeness, curiosity, fair-mindedness, and autonomy . So-called virtue responsibilists conceive of intellectual virtues primarily as acquired character traits, such as intellectual conscientiousness and love of knowledge. Virtue reliabilists, by contrast, think of intellectual virtues more in terms of well-functioning mental faculties such as perception, memory, and intuition. Intellectual virtues are studied extensively in both critical thinking and virtue epistemology . In

6996-417: 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. Everything is subject to the laws of Fate, for

7102-408: The cooperating causes of all things that exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the structure of the web. 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". Since right Reason is the foundation of both humanity and the universe. Stoic theology

7208-442: The correct rational emotions. The Stoics listed the good-feelings under the headings of joy ( chara ), wish ( boulesis ), and caution ( eulabeia ). Thus if something is present which is a genuine good, then the wise person experiences an uplift in the soul—joy ( chara ). The Stoics also subdivided the good-feelings: The Stoics accepted that suicide was permissible for the wise person in circumstances that might prevent them from living

7314-400: The different works which have survived, but the basic examples are consistent, as is the basis for distinguishing them in principle. Some people, despite intending to do the right thing, cannot act according to their own choice. For example, someone may choose to refrain from eating chocolate cake, but finds himself eating the cake contrary to his own choice. Such a failure to act in a way that

7420-486: The discovery of a new 2nd-century C.E. Athenian coin. The excavation was negotiated and directed by the ASCSA's chair of the agora excavation committee, Edward Capps , whom the school would honor with a memorial overlooking the project. John McK Camp served as Director of the excavations since 1994, until his retirement in 2022. John K. Papadopoulos is now in the position of Director following Camp's retirement. After

7526-497: The dominant approaches to philosophical ethics. Aristotle's well-known function argument is less commonly accepted today, since he seems to use it in order to develop a claim about human perfection from an observation from what is distinctive about man. But the exact role of the function argument in Aristotle's ethical theory is itself a matter of dispute. Ancient Agora of Athens The ancient Agora of Athens (also called

7632-591: The end of the 4th century BC. Unlike the Epicureans , Zeno chose to teach his philosophy in a public space. Stoicism was originally known as Zenonism. 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 . Zeno's ideas developed from those of the Cynics (brought to him by Crates of Thebes ), whose founding father, Antisthenes , had been

7738-619: The endorsement of the truthfulness of the Stoic worldview and the tenets for one's behavior that follow from it, are central to what it means to be a Stoic. 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 of Citium and his followers gathered to discuss their ideas, near

7844-429: The existing beings they admitted four incorporeals (asomata): time, place, void, and sayable. They were held to be just 'subsisting' while such a status was denied to universals. 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

7950-865: The four of them together. Only soldiers can exemplify such virtues because war demands soldiers to exercise disciplined and firm virtues, but war does everything in its power to shatter the virtues it demands. Since virtues are very fragile, they must be practiced always, for if they are not practiced they will weaken and eventually disappear. One who is virtuous has to avoid the enemies of virtue which are indifference or persuasion that something should not be done, self-indulgence or persuasion that something can wait and does not need to be done at that moment, and despair or persuasion that something simply cannot be accomplished anyway. In order for one to be virtuous they must display prudence, temperance, courage, and justice; moreover, they have to display all four of them and not just one or two to be virtuous. Aristotle devotes Book V of

8056-504: The future. Thus there are just two states directed at the prospect of good and evil, but subdivided as to whether they are present or future: Numerous subdivisions of the same class were brought under the head of the separate passions: The wise person ( sophos ) is someone who is free from the passions ( apatheia ). Instead the sage experiences good-feelings ( eupatheia ) which are clear-headed. These emotional impulses are not excessive, but nor are they diminished emotions. Instead they are

8162-436: The good of the individual, while politics examines the good of the city-state , which he considered to be the best type of community. Aristotle's writings have been read more or less continuously since ancient times, and his ethical treatises in particular continue to influence philosophers working today. Aristotle emphasized the practical importance of developing excellence ( virtue ) of character (Greek ēthikē aretē ), as

8268-501: The groundwork for an inquiry into political questions ( NE X.1181b6-23). Aristotle's Ethics also states that the good of the individual is subordinate to the good of the city-state, or polis . Fragments also survive from Aristotle's Protrepticus , another work which dealt with ethics. Aristotle's ethics builds upon earlier Greek thought, particularly that of his teacher Plato and Plato's teacher, Socrates . While Socrates left no written works, and Plato wrote dialogues and possibly

8374-457: The individual's ethical and moral well-being: " Virtue consists in a will that is in agreement with Nature". This principle also applies to the realm of interpersonal relationships; "to be free from anger, envy, and jealousy", and to accept even slaves as "equals of other men, because all men alike are products of nature". The Stoic ethic espouses a deterministic perspective; in regard to those who lack Stoic virtue, Cleanthes once opined that

8480-838: The initial phase of excavation, in the 1950s the Hellenistic Stoa of Attalos was reconstructed on the east side of the agora, and today it serves as a museum and as storage and office space for the excavation team. A virtual reconstruction of the Ancient Agora of Athens has been produced through a collaboration of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the Foundation of the Hellenic World , which had various output (3d video, VR real-time dom performance, and Google Earth 3d models). During

8586-401: The more important part. The original Socratic questioning on ethics started at least partly as a response to sophism , which was a popular style of education and speech at the time. Sophism emphasized rhetoric , and argument, and therefore often involved criticism of traditional Greek religion and flirtation with moral relativism . Aristotle's ethics, or study of character, is built around

8692-470: The other hand, The Nicomachean Ethics continues to be relevant to philosophers today. In fact, virtue ethics takes its inspiration from Aristotle's approach to ethics—in particular, sharing his emphasis on character excellence, and ethical psychology. Some philosophers, in particular Bernard Williams, regard Aristotle's ethics as superior to the Utilitarian and Kantian traditions, which have come to be

8798-411: The physical world based on experiments and careful observation—in particular, on the basis of exact measurements of time and distance. Aristotle, on the other hand, bases his science largely on qualitative and non-experimental observation. Accordingly, he made some inaccurate claims which have been overturned—such as the claim that objects of different mass accelerate at different rates due to gravity. On

8904-466: The practical excellences in the highest way, a person must possess all the others. Aristotle therefore describes several apparently different kinds of virtuous person as necessarily having all the moral virtues, excellences of character. Aristotle also says, for example in NE Book VI, that such a complete virtue requires intellectual virtue, not only practical virtue, but also theoretical wisdom. Such

9010-571: The premise that people should achieve an excellent character (a virtuous character, " ethikē aretē " in Greek) by practicing virtue in order to ultimately attain happiness or well-being ( eudaimonia ). It is sometimes referred to in comparison to later ethical theories as a "character based ethics". Like Plato and Socrates he emphasized the importance of reason for eudaimonia, and that there were logical and natural reasons for humans to behave virtuously, and try to become virtuous. Aristotle's treatment of

9116-509: The publication of Problems in Stoicism by A. A. Long in 1971, and also as part of the late 20th-century surge of interest in virtue ethics . Contemporary Stoicism draws from the late 20th- and early 21st-century spike in publications of scholarly works on ancient Stoicism. Beyond that, the current Stoicist movement traces its roots to the work of Albert Ellis , who developed rational emotive behavior therapy , as well as Aaron T. Beck , who

9222-596: The question of how best to live, at least for the best types of human, was, if possible, to live the life of philosophy . Three Aristotelian ethical works survive today which are considered to be either by Aristotle, or from relatively soon after: The exact origins of these texts is unclear, although they were already considered the works of Aristotle in ancient times. Textual oddities suggest that they may not have been put in their current form by Aristotle himself. For example, Books IV–VI of Eudemian Ethics also appear as Books V–VII of Nicomachean Ethics . The authenticity of

9328-425: The remains of many marble-working establishments, various unfinished statues, reliefs, and utilitarian objects. Excavations of the Athenian agora have proved that marble-workers were very active, the earliest workshops being established in the early 5th century . The earliest areas used by marble workers were the residential and industrial districts southwest of the agora. Another area where marble-workers set up shop

9434-446: The right course of action depends upon the details of a particular situation, rather than being generated merely by applying a law. The type of wisdom which is required for this is called "prudence" or "practical wisdom" (Greek phronesis ), as opposed to the wisdom of a theoretical philosopher (Greek sophia ). But despite the importance of practical decision making, in the final analysis the original Aristotelian and Socratic answer to

9540-450: The root of each passion. Incorrect judgement as to a present good gives rise to delight, while lust is a wrong estimate about the future. Unreal imaginings of evil cause distress about the present, or fear for the future. The ideal Stoic would instead measure things at their real value, and see that the passions are not natural. To be free of the passions is to have a happiness which is self-contained. There would be nothing to fear—for unreason

9646-510: The senses to the mind , where they leave an impression in the imagination ( phantasiai ) (an impression arising from the mind was called a phantasma). 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

9752-416: The small shrines in the agora. Some women also set up substantial memorials to their piety within the agora. Religious festivals were a significant opportunity for the women of Athens to participate in their social culture. As of the early 5th century , the Ancient Agora of Athens was known as glorious and richly decorated, set with famous works of art, many of them sculpted from marble . The buildings of

9858-422: The soul can engage: reasoning (both practical and theoretical) and following reasoning . A person that does this is the best because they are fulfilling their purpose or nature as found in the rational soul, similar to how the best horse in a chariot race is the fastest horse etcetera. In other words, the thinker is not only the 'best' person, but is also most like God. Moral virtue, or excellence of character,

9964-531: The source of their names. On the other hand, Aristotle's father was also called Nicomachus. Aristotle's son was the next leader of Aristotle's school, the Lyceum , and in ancient times he was already associated with this work. A fourth treatise, Aristotle's Politics , is often regarded as the sequel to the Ethics, in part because Aristotle closes the Nicomachean Ethics by saying that his ethical inquiry has laid

10070-716: The subject is distinct in several ways from that found in Plato's Socratic dialogues. Aristotle believed that ethical knowledge is not only a theoretical knowledge, but rather that a person must have "experience of the actions in life" and have been "brought up in fine habits" to become good ( NE 1095a3 and b5). For a person to become virtuous, he can't simply study what virtue is , but must actually do virtuous things. We are not studying in order to know what virtue is, but to become good, for otherwise there would be no profit in it. (NE II.2) The Aristotelian Ethics all aim to begin with approximate but uncontroversial starting points. In

10176-476: The tenets of ancient Stoicism to the human origin story, environmental education, vegetarianism and the modern challenges of sustainable development, material consumption and consumerism. Seamus Mac Suibhne has described the practices of spiritual exercises as influencing those of reflective practice . Many parallels between Stoic spiritual exercises and modern cognitive behavioral therapy have been identified. According to philosopher Pierre Hadot , philosophy for

10282-443: The view of the Stoics, philosophy is the practice of virtue, and virtue, the highest form of which is utility, is generally speaking, constructed from ideals of logic , monistic physics, and naturalistic ethics. These three ideals constitute virtue which is necessary for 'living a well reasoned life', seeing as they are all parts of a logos, or philosophical discourse, which includes the mind's rational dialogue with itself. Of them,

10388-512: The way to achieve what is finally more important, excellent conduct (Greek praxis ). As Aristotle argues in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics , the man who possesses character excellence will tend to do the right thing, at the right time, and in the right way. Bravery, and the correct regulation of one's bodily appetites, are examples of character excellence or virtue. So acting bravely and acting temperately are examples of excellent activities. The highest aims are living well, and eudaimonia –

10494-399: The wicked man is "like a dog tied to a cart, and compelled to go wherever it goes". 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

10600-531: The work consisted of three volumes, to which Maximilian Adler in 1924 added a fourth, containing general indices. Teubner reprinted the whole work in 1964. Aristotle%27s ethics Aristotle first used the term ethics to name a field of study developed by his predecessors Socrates and Plato which is devoted to the attempt to provide a rational response to the question of how humans should best live. Aristotle regarded ethics and politics as two related but separate fields of study, since ethics examines

10706-463: The works of Ambrose of Milan , Marcus Minucius Felix , and Tertullian . The modern usage is a "person who represses feelings or endures patiently". 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". The revival of Stoicism in the 20th century can be traced to

10812-460: The world works. In fact, some regard his ethical inquiries as using a method that relies upon popular opinion (his so-called "endoxic method" from the Grk. endoxa ). There is some dispute, however, about exactly how such common conceptions fit into Aristotle's method in his ethical treatises, particularly since he also makes use of more formal arguments, especially the so-called "function argument," which

10918-497: Was Alcamenes , whose most important works in the agora were the bronze cult statues of Hephaestus and Athena in the Temple of Hephaestus . These famous sculptors are attested in the agora by the discovery of signed pieces of work that could no longer be preserved. A marble statue signed and possibly carved by Bryaxis was found in the agora behind the Royal Stoa. The 4th century marble-worker known for his sculptures, made

11024-556: Was a wide-ranging term indicating an infliction one suffers. The Stoics used the word to discuss many common emotions such as anger, fear and excessive joy. A passion is a disturbing and misleading force in the mind which occurs because of a failure to reason correctly. For the Stoic Chrysippus , the passions are evaluative judgements. A person experiencing such an emotion has incorrectly valued an indifferent thing. A fault of judgement, some false notion of good or evil, lies at

11130-752: Was described in detail in The Philosophy of Cognitive–Behavioural Therapy by Donald Robertson. Several early 20th-century psychotherapists were influenced by Stoicism, most notably the "rational persuasion" school founded by the Swiss neurologist and psychotherapist Paul Dubois , who drew heavily on Stoicism in his clinical work and encouraged his clients to study passages from Seneca the Younger as homework assignments. Similarities of modern Stoicism and third-wave CBT have been suggested as well, and individual reports of its potency in treating depression have been published. There has also been interest in applying

11236-586: Was in the South Square, after the sack of Athens by the Roman general Sulla in 86 BC. As the South Square was in ruins, marble-workers were attracted to the remains of the marble temples. A workshop from the southern corner of the agora was also important, the Library of Pantainos rented out rooms to marble-workers. Literacy and evidence from excavations give a sense of statues and famous marble sculptors in

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