What Does ‘Stoic’ Mean?
A short history of Stoicism
What is Stoicism?
A Stoic attitude to life aims to achieve lasting happiness by staying calm, rational and emotionally detached, while cultivating one’s virtues. Stoicism originated in ancient Greece and Rome and has recently gained in popularity. The main Stoic philosophers are Epictetus, Seneca the Younger and Marcus Aurelius.
Because of its age and enduring popularity, Stoicism comes in many different forms and has seen many changes over time. It has been argued that modern Stoicism often does not have much in common with the Stoic philosophy of the ancients. In this article, we will have a look at the main ideas of a Stoic approach to life.
What was the Stoa?
The word ‘Stoic’ comes from the Greek word ‘Stoa,’ which means porch or hallway. Public buildings and temples in ancient Greece were often surrounded by columns that held up a roof and that went all around the building as you can see here:
The Stoa of Attalos. Source: Wikipedia.
The space under this extended roof, between and behind the row of columns, formed a kind of porch where citizens could sit, protected from sun and rain, and discuss business matters, the news of the day, or just idly watch the passers-by in the company of friends. These porches were also the places where teachers could meet with their students and where philosophers would find an audience for their theories.
The Stoics took their name from one of these public spaces: the lavishly painted “varied Stoa” (stoa poikile in Greek). The Stoa was used to display items looted in wars, but also big murals depicting famous battles and mythological or literary scenes. Here, the Stoics’ founder, Zeno of Citium, would meet his followers.
‘Stoic’ therefore just means ‘the philosophers who met in the Stoa.’ It was common in Ancient Athens to name philosophy schools after their meeting places: Plato taught in the Academy, Aristotle could be found at the Lyceum, and Epicurus met his followers in ‘The Garden.’
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Main Stoic ideas and principles
Stoic philosophy was very rich and varied, ranging from ethics to what we would today call the natural sciences, including physics and astronomy. But when we today talk of the Stoics, we usually mean their philosophy of life.
Like many other ancient Greek philosophies, the Stoics thought that the proper understanding and management of emotions is one important factor that can bring about human happiness. Being controlled by random emotions is, for the Stoics, a recipe for suffering; while distancing oneself from the world and its accidents (whether good or bad) is a mark of the wise person. Happiness consists in not being a slave to one’s emotions and in being able to control and direct them towards what one’s rationality recognises as virtuous behaviour.
It is important to see that the Stoics did not advocate indifference to the world. Quite the opposite. The Stoic philosopher is keenly aware of their duty to society and the value of virtuous behaviour at all times. Stoics pursue justice, aim to be kind and understanding and see education as the basis for a better life: because education allows us to understand the ways by which the world works better, and therefore enables us to have more control over what happens to us.
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In one sentence, one could say that the core of the Stoic attitude to life is to distinguish clearly between what one can influence and what one cannot change:
We should try to control what we can control in accordance with our duty and virtues, but we should also, at the same time, give up the wish to control what cannot be controlled.
For the Stoic, the ideal attitude is a calm and rational view of life that does not permit the world to upset one’s feelings in an irrational way.
A Stoic is an adherent of Stoicism, an ancient Greek and Roman philosophy of life. Stoics thought that, in order to be happy, we must learn to distinguish between what we can control and what we cannot.
The four Stoic virtues
Stoic philosophy recognises four cardinal virtues that we should aim to achieve and realise through our actions:
- Wisdom
- Courage
- Justice
- Temperance
To Stoics, it is crucial that they don’t only discuss their philosophy as a theory, but rather that they live it as a daily practice and exercise. This is nowhere as clear as in the work of Marcus Aurelius, the Meditations (see below).
Stoic philosophers in the ancient world
Stoicism is special in that it included three very different individuals among its early teachers: an ex-slave, a famous writer and society figure, and the Emperor of Rome himself. None of the writings of the original founder of Stoicism, Zeno of Citium (334-262 BC), survive today, except in quotes from other authors and tables of contents. So we have to look to three other philosophers if we want to read original works of ancient Stoicism.
Epictetus
Epictetus (c. 50-135 AD) was born a slave in what is today Turkey, moved to Rome, still a slave, while privately studying philosophy. After the death of emperor Nero in AD 68, he was freed and stayed in Rome as a philosopher for another 25 years. In AD 93, Emperor Domitian banished all philosophers from Rome. Epictetus moved to northern Greece where he spent the rest of his life teaching in his own philosophy school.
His writings are lost, but his student Arrian compiled Epictetus’ ideas into two books: The Discourses, and a short handbook called the Enchiridion (full text here) (which literally means ‘handbook’). The Enchiridion is probably the best starting point for a journey into Stoicism.
Epictetus, The Enchiridion. Over the centuries, this ancient handbook of wisdom has accompanied the lives of countless people who relied on it for advice and comfort when times got rough. It is still one of the most significant philosophical works about happiness and wisdom in all of history.
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Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC-65 AD), also known as “The Younger” Seneca (to distinguish him from his father, who was also a writer) was a writer of plays, moral essays and letters, philosopher and advisor to Emperor Nero. Eventually, Seneca was accused of conspiring against the emperor and had to take his own life.
Because of his prodigious output, Seneca gives us a much more nuanced understanding of Stoic philosophy than the (much terser) Epictetus. On the other hand, all the rhetoric, nuance and wordiness in his writings makes them harder to read for the beginner who just wants to get a quick overview of Stoicism.
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) lived in a period of upheaval for the Roman empire. He was, despite his fragile health, involved in frequent military campaigns, on which he wrote his “Notes to Myself,” the book that later became known as “Meditations.” His reign was also haunted by the plague, floods and other disasters. Despite that, he is considered the last of the “five good emperors” of Rome.
April 26, 121 AD marks the birthday of Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, who still inspires us today with his sense of humility and duty.
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (full text here) is a remarkable work to come from the pen of the most powerful man of his time. It is a testament to the sense of duty and clear-headed service to others that Stoic philosophy demands of us; the contrast to most of today’s politicians and heads of state could not be greater. Since it was not conceived as an academic text, but as a diary, it gives us wonderful and sometimes surprising insights into the thought process of an honest man, who also happened to be a philosopher and emperor. On the other hand, the diary format also means that sometimes the text is a bit meandering and chatty, containing personal thoughts and memories that are not always relevant to the student of Stoicism today.
The Meditations is Marcus Aurelius’ philosophical diary and one of the major texts of Stoicism. In it, Marcus describes his life of duty and his thoughts on everyday occurrences. A fascinating read that is as relevant today as it was the moment it was written.
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Neo-Stoicism and modern Stoicism
Stoicism has enjoyed a place at the philosophers’ table since the ancient times and up until today.
After the rise of Christianity and the end of ancient Rome (usually placed at 476 AD), Stoicism declined. The emphasis of Stoicism on the power of rational individuals to shape their own lives could be seen as conflicting with the (medieval Christian) view of human beings wholly dependent on God and God’s grace for their flourishing.
It was only in the 16th century that some thinkers (particularly Justus Lipsius, 1547-1606) reached back to the ideas of Stoic philosophy in their search for a secular, non-Christian justification of morality, creating what is known as ‘Neostoicism’.
Stoicism had followers all throughout Western history, but it experienced a wider revival at the end of the 20th century. Scholarly research on ancient Stoicism, combined with the experiences of the World Wars (e.g. in Viktor Frankl’s work) and, more recently, the power of the Internet to disseminate new ideas and create online communities, led to an explosion in online Stoic content.
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who, because of his Jewish descent, spent the last six months of World War II in a German concentration camp, which he barely survived.
Many specialised websites and online communities specialise in Stoic content, and there are Facebook and Reddit groups on Stoicism, as well as Stoic conferences and gatherings. The wide appeal of modern Stoicism is probably helped by the Stoic core teachings on dealing with adversity and uncertainty in life. In times of Covid, wars, dictatorships, destructive social media and environmental collapse, a philosophy that emphasises that we should not be perturbed by the ways of the world holds a lot of appeal.
But one must be cautious. Not every lifestyle philosophy branded as ‘Stoicism’ has much in common with the ancient philosophy. There have been critics who argued that there cannot be any such thing as ‘modern Stoicism,’ because the particular time and historical context in which Stoicism was developed and flourished is an integral part of the philosophy. Often, Stoic doctrines are simplified in popular media to a degree that renders them unrecognisable as Stoic principles.
This is why we will here, at Daily Philosophy, go back all the way to the ancient Stoic authors, in order to understand the real teachings of Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. You can find all the articles in our series on Stoicism here.
Cover image by Lazarescu Alexandra on Unsplash.
