Today's Tuesday • 9 mins read
— Researched and written by Dr. Sandip Roy.
Stoicism is a Greco-Roman philosophy founded in 301 BCE. Zeno of Citium gave Stoicism’s first lectures at the marketplace called Stoa Poikilê. This brought philosophy out of the classrooms to everyday people.
Zeno taught how to find true happiness by practicing virtue, wisdom, fairness, and self-control. Those Stoic teachings are still useful today.
Stoic ideas played a big role in shaping modern psychology. They influenced methods like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and emotional intelligence (EI). Many people aren’t aware of this connection.
4 Key Takeaways
- Live Virtuously To Be Happy: Virtue in thoughts and actions is both necessary and enough to find true happiness (eudaimonia).
- Practice The Power of Now: To find strength and optimism in all life’s experiences, live mindfully in the present moment, and appreciate life as it unfolds.
- Learn Control & Acceptance: Focus on what’s within your control, and accept what’s beyond it. That is the Stoic art of peaceful living that works even today.
- Embrace Emotions Wisely: Stoicism asks us not to suppress or be overwhelmed by our feelings, but to embrace the full range of emotions with moderation.
What is Stoicism In A Nutshell
Stoicism is a 2,000-year-old philosophy started by Zeno of Citium. It teaches that happiness comes from personal virtue and rational thinking. It focuses on four cardinal virtues: wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance.
They believe that true contentment comes from inside us, not from things like money or fame. Stoics strive to master their thoughts, words, and actions, things they can control.
They accept what they can’t change, like bad weather or other people’s actions. This “amor fati” mindset helps them stay strong, calm, and grateful in life.
Stoicism is all about living a good, meaningful life. It focuses on self-control and mindfulness. It helps us handle life’s ups and downs with resilience.
Core Tenets of Stoic Philosophy
Stoicism stands on three main principles — Virtue, Logic, and Nature — which form the building blocks for a good and thoughtful life. These help a Stoic live a useful life, make wise choices, and cope with life’s challenges calmly.
1. Virtue
Virtue is the heart of Stoicism. It is about being the best version of yourself. Stoics think that living a life of virtue is the only way to be happy.
Their four cardinal virtues are:
- Wisdom. Making wise choices, learning from life, and understanding the important things you should focus on.
- Courage. Facing, not running away from, challenges in daily life, being brave in danger, and speaking the truth to power at all times.
- Justice. Stands for being fair to others, doing the right thing, and helping out where you can.
- Temperance. Means self-control. Finding balance and moderation, whether it’s with emotions, food, or anything else.
2. Logic
Stoic “Logic,” developed by Chrysippus, was one of the two great systems of logic in the classical world.
- Stoic logic was more than analyzing arguments. It also included how words were said (rhetoric), how they were written (grammar), what they knew (knowledge), and even how people spoke them (lekta or “sayables”).
- Dialectic, a field within Stoic logic, was the science of finding truth and meaning through the exchange of logical arguments.
- They felt logic was necessary to understand reality about the world, Nature, and ourselves.
3. Nature
In Stoic philosophy, “Nature” refers to two main things:
- the nature of the universe, and
- the nature of human beings.
When the Stoics talk of “living in accordance with nature,” it means aligning oneself with the rational order of the universe and other human beings.
It also involved using Reason to distinguish between good, bad, and indifferent, and cultivate wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance.
They saw Nature as an interconnected, well-ordered system. And felt that when a person lives in harmony with Nature, they can willingly accept the sequence of events fated by the universe.
Stoicism and Mindfulness
Mindfulness, or being fully present and engaged in the current moment, is a key aspect of Stoicism. Stoics value attention and being in alignment with our values.
Stoic mindfulness involves regularly checking in with ourselves, and observing our thoughts, emotions, and actions without judgment.
It also includes practicing the dichotomy of control, focusing our attention on what we can control and accepting what we can’t.
In a way, Stoic mindfulness is really about seeing what is up to you in any given situation, focusing on doing that well, and on doing the act with wisdom and virtue.
Stoicism and Amor Fati
The Stoics believe in the idea of loving their fate, or amor fati.
It is the premise is that if you accept what you can’t change, then you won’t be frustrated when it happens.
This allows the Stoics to keep an optimistic outlook on their situation, no matter how bleak it seems, and to keep working for a brighter tomorrow.
To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony.
— Marcus Aurelius, The Philosopher King
Stoic View of Emotions
Stoicism isn’t about not suppressing emotions; it’s about experiencing them in a balanced way.
Stoics believe that emotions come from our thoughts and judgments. This teaches us that by changing the way we think, we can better handle our feelings.
Surprisingly, this insight forms the basis of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), which works on the principle that altering our thought patterns can significantly impact our emotional well-being and behavior.
‘Apatheia‘ is an important Stoic idea. It’s not about avoiding emotions, but disallowing strong emotions to control our behavior. It means keeping our emotions steady, even when things get tough.
So, Stoics allow themselves to feel all emotions without getting carried away by either the positive or the negative ones.
From them, we learn that it is alright to feel things like sadness without letting them overwhelm us.
The Stoics called the negative emotions “pathe” (suffering), and held that they result from our judgments about the world.
So they avoid making judgments about situations and people. Instead, they prefer to accept people and situations as they are, which helps avoid the negative effects of lingering feelings.
Stoicism, thus, helps us handle our feelings more healthily, letting us stay calm and strong even when things are hard.
Stoicism and Dichotomy of Control
The Dichotomy of Control is an elementary concept in Stoicism. It is about wisely separating things that are within our control from things that are not.
Epictetus, the Stoic master, made it clear that only our opinions, motivations, desires, aversions, and actions are within our power. Meanwhile, things like our body, property, reputation, and other people’s opinions are not within our power.
It also tells us we cannot change what has already happened, but we can control our response to it. So, we should learn to live forward without carrying the burdens of shame, remorse, disgust, or guilt from our past.
Living forward means taking lessons from the past to direct our thoughts, choices, and actions in the present moment.
Stoicism and Life’s Finality
Stoics view the end as a natural precondition for life. They believe that the life we receive from Nature will eventually return to it.
They believed wasting our days on trivial pursuits makes life painful and meaningless. When we accept the inevitable end, we become grateful for the life we have and feel urged to live the rest of our days with purpose.
So, they advised:
- Stop complaining about others. If you think people are spoiling your day or mood, then remind yourself that they will be what they are. That’s painful enough to live the same life without any improvement. Our goodness comes from us, not others.
- Don’t turn away from the harsh times. Instead, meet adversities with the wisdom that they will pass, and hold the same thought for the good times. The trivial and the vital, the blissful and the painful, all fade away.
- Stoic philosophy emphasizes self-control and the rule of reason. It tells us not to let our emotions dictate our actions and instead, use reason to make our decisions.
Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.
— Marcus Aurelius, The Philosopher King
Stoicism and Memento Mori
Stoic philosophy urges the practice of memento mori.
Memento Mori is a Latin phrase meaning “remember that life has an end.” It is a reminder of the impermanence of life, and so we must live with purpose, carry out our duties without delay, and appreciate the present moment.
The Stoics believed that remembering the end could make them aware of the urgency to live a life of meaning and virtue. They even meditated on it to overcome the fear associated with it.
“Think often on the swiftness with which the things that exist and that are coming into existence are swept past us and carried out of sight. For all substance is as a river in ceaseless flow, its activities ever-changing and its causes subject to countless variations, and scarcely anything stable.”
— Marcus Aurelius
So, memento mori and seize the day to live a good life.
FAQs
1. What is Stoicism?
Stoicism is defined as an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens. The school taught that Virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge; the wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (sometimes equated with Fate and Providence) that governs Nature, and are indifferent to the whims of fortune, as well as pleasure and pain.
2. What are the four main ideas of Stoicism?
The four major ideas of Stoicism are Virtue, Nature, Apatheia, and Eudaimonia.
- Virtue has four subtypes: wisdom (the root virtue), justice, courage, and moderation.
- Nature or the cosmos is thought to be perfect, and everything that happens is predetermined, so all outcomes must be accepted.
- Apatheia is a state of mind unaffected by the passions.
- Eudaimonia is the ultimate goal of life, and a good life comes from the pursuit of virtue.
[Download the PDF: Stoicism—Short Summary]
Final Words: How To Be A Stoic?
Finally, for a Stoic, the purpose of life is to live in harmony with nature, which can only come from a life of virtue, which then leads to a life of joy (eudaimonia) that is free of suffering (apatheia).
You can become a modern Stoic by:
- Choosing virtue every time, whether anyone is watching or not.
- Experiencing (enjoying and suffering) this human existence, and yet doing both in moderation.
√ Also Read: How Do Stoics Deal With Narcissists And Selfish People?
√ Please share it with someone.
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