Stoicism Pt.1: A Rational Universe

One of the most influential Hellenistic schools of philosophy was Stoicism, situated in Athens. The school was founded by Zeno of Citium (332-262 BCE). Following his death, the school fell into the hands of Cleanthes of Assos, followed by the most famous stoic - Chrysippus of Solis. Chrysippus moved to Athens in his younger years, where he became a well-known pupil of Zeno, defending his tutor’s works against his adversaries at Plato’s Academy.

As with many other Ancient Greek philosophers, many of the Stoic’s works are now lost to us. However, we can use the writings of later philosophers who followed their teachings to provide us with information on exactly what they taught. This includes Seneca (513 CE-65 CE) and Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE), who were both Stoics. Cicero also documented their works; he was not a Stoic but an Epicurean, preferring the therapeutic approach of Epicurus’s remedial thinking. You can read about Epicureanism here.

Stoicism was extremely significant, those who rejected it’s ideas often adapted to their ideology and methodology later on. Epicureanism bears some similarities to the school, including:

• They were both materialists instead of atomists, and shared the belief that everything needs a body

• Concept of a corporeal God who works within the world

• A shared belief in the Heraclitean cosmos, periodically consumed in fire (Ekpyrosis) in order to maintain the functions of the Universe every Great Year. It is destroyed, and then recreated continuously in this cycle:

• Eternal recurrence - an infinite sequence of worlds. When one world is finished catching fire, the next world does, and this occurs for infinity

However, there is a key difference between Epicureanism and Stoicism. This difference regards the ultimate goal of life and the outcome we achieve in doing so. The Epicurean goal was to reach a state known as ‘ataraxia’. This state, in short, can be described as a freedom from life’s many worries, something which is highly sought as the Gods are forever in this condition. However, the Stoics believed in achieving a ‘good flow of life’. This goal here wasn’t to experience a tranquil life in par with the Gods, but to live in agreement with it, and thus, with nature.

The Stoic God exists everywhere in the cosmos, and therefore everywhere within the natural world. All these things exist can be divided into two different categories:

• The active principle Logos*

• The passive principle Logos*

*Logos is a Greek word with various meanings all relating to each other, such a ‘reason’, ‘account’, ‘opinion’, ‘ground’ and so forth. Heraclitus however began using the term as a principle, hence the logic behind an argument.

“There are two principles of the Universe, the active and the passive. The passive, then is unqualified substance - that is, matter - whereas the active is the LOGOS in it - that is, God” - Diogenes Laertius

The passive principle is fully material. The active principle, however, can be understood as a breath of life giving warmth to the passive, thus ‘activating’ the material. This breath is known as pneuma, and in Stoic ideology is God. The Stoic concept of God, as with many other Ancient Greek beliefs, is divine reason existing everywhere within the cosmos. However, for the Stoics, this God does not always manifest as reason.

The divine, cosmic reason can also manifest within*:

• Cohesion/ Arrangement or disposition (hexis): bodies e.g. rocks

• Nature (physis): plants e.g. growth

• Soul (psyche): animals e.g. perception

• Reason (logos): humans e.g. knowledge, decisions

*It can be noted that all of these are what Aristotle categorized under the soul.

God is not only the divine reason which governs the world, but is the nature of the world also. This nature has multiple functions, creation, growth, locomotion and so forth. Therefore, God is all around us, intricately working within our Universe as we live upon it. God, however, does not undertake all of these individual functions to add up to some kind of metaphysical total. Instead, all these inner workings are a unified complex, all interconnected to form a huge natural system, comparable to the parts of a human body operating together.

Pneuma is responsible for all this, holding nature together and animating it. It is also the soul of the cosmos, meaning the world’s soul is a rational Universe. Divine reason, unlike that of humankind, is completely perfect and only functions to the best way possible, unknowable to the human mind. This world order is called providential order, and unfolds according to the excellence of the supreme, governing deity. We can break down the Stoic’s teleology in the following diagram:

Living in agreement with nature will enable us to achieve the good, for example, the existence of mice encourages us to be tidy. We must remember not to confuse pneuma, the animator, with the rational principle which governs with the Universe. The nature we must living corresponding with is nature’s reason.

However, living with nature doesn’t mean we should reject artificial materials.

“The goal [is] to “live consistently with nature”, that is, according to one’s own nature and that of the Universe, doing nothing forbidden by the common law, which is right reason, penetrating all things, being the same as Zeus, who is the leader of the administration of all things” - Diogenes Laertius

There are two types of nature, however: the nature of the Universe (God) which we have just discussed, and another type of nature - our own. This is similar to Aristotle’s concept of each living organism having it’s own function which it needs to excel at. The Stoics broke down natural activities into the following:

• Plants: Growth

• Animals: Sense and impulse

• Humans: Reason

Humans also have sense and impulse, just like animals, but they are able to differentiate between good and bad ones. This is because they have their own reason, a different reason to nature’s reason, individual and exclusive to humankind. Impulse is goal directed behaviour governed by our reason - the artisan of impulse. We usually only act in a certain way when our personal judgment has deemed it correct to do so. Impulses are therefore produced by reason, for example, shoes and a shoemaker. This, in a sense, is the art of living.

The knowledge of knowing the right thing to do is called kathekon. The art of living is described as having the knowledge of what is kathekon. Sometimes, kathekon can be pursuing health and life goals, however, sometimes it not as feelings of great courage, for example, can involve a bodily risk.

Therefore, exercising the art of living perfectly allows us to act appropriately on our impulses, for we use our reason within our nature to judge situations accordingly and justly. Following our nature allows us to correct use our reason, giving us the best possible quality of life.

“The kathekon is defined as… that which has reasonable justification” - Stobaeus

In my next post, I will continue looking at Stoicism and how a good life enables us to achieve our goals.