A Guide to Stoicism
()
About this ebook
Read more from St. George Stock
Marcus Aurelius Complete Works – World’s Best Collection: All Works – Meditations, Teachings, Stoic Philosophy Plus Biography, Bonus Interpretation & Stoicism Analysis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Guide to Stoicism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Guide to Stoicism
Related ebooks
A Guide to Stoicism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeditations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Guide to Stoicism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEuthydemus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEuthydemus, Crito, Euthyphro Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlato: The Complete Works including 31 Books (illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemocracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (Easy to Read Layout) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThoughts of Emperor of the Rome Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTHE POWER OF STOICISM: Unleashing Resilience and Inner Strength for a Fulfilling Life (2023 Guide for Beginners) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThoughts and Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStoicism: Principles, Quotes, and Beliefs That Can Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stoicism: Introduction To The Stoic Way of Life: Beginners Guide To Mastery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Greek Philosophy - Simple Guides Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Teachings of All Ages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Greek Ideals and Modern Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Aristotle: "Logic (Organon), Universal Physics, Human Physics, Animal Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics and Politics" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Teaching of Epictetus Being the 'Encheiridion of Epictetus,' with Selections from the 'Dissertations' and 'Fragments' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory of Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Approaching Philosophy of Religion: An introduction to key thinkers, concepts, methods and debates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassical vs. Modern Education: A Vision from C.S. Lewis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Concept of Logos in Greek Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Figure of Nature: On Greek Origins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Philosophy of Mind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA History of Greek and Roman Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man and the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of God: The Twelve Principles of Perfection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeacon Lights of History, Volume 01 The Old Pagan Civilizations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings100 Great Philosophers Who Changed the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssays at the End of the Age: The Death of Nihilism and the Rebirth of Truth and Beauty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Philosophy For You
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Socratic Method: A Practitioner's Handbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Think Critically: Question, Analyze, Reflect, Debate. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Focus on What Matters: A Collection of Stoic Letters on Living Well Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters from a Stoic: All Three Volumes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Subtle Art of Being Alone: Why Embracing Solitude Beats Embracing Loneliness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5THE EMERALD TABLETS OF THOTH THE ATLANTEAN Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana (Illustrated) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bhagavad Gita Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Guide to Stoicism
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
A Guide to Stoicism - St. George Stock
A Guide to Stoicism
St. George Stock
image-placeholderSheba Blake Publishing Corp.
Copyright © 2022 by St. George Stock.
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
Contents
Foreword
1. Philosophy Among the Greeks and Romans
2. Division of Philosophy
3. Logic
4. Ethic
5. Physic
Conclusion
About Author
Foreword
If you strip Stoicism of its paradoxes and its wilful misuse of language, what is left is simply the moral philosophy of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, dashed with the physics of Heraclitus. Stoicism was not so much a new doctrine as the form under which the old Greek philosophy finally presented itself to the world at large. It owed its popularity in some measure to its extravagance. A great deal might be said about Stoicism as a religion and about the part it played in the formation of Christianity but these subjects were excluded by the plan of this volume which was to present a sketch of the Stoic doctrine based on the original authorities.
ST GEORGE STOCK M.A.
Pemb. Coll. Oxford
image-placeholder1
Philosophy Among the Greeks and Romans
Among the Greeks and Romans of the classical age philosophy occupied the place taken by religion among ourselves. Their appeal was to reason not to revelation. To what, asks Cicero in his Offices, are we to look for training in virtue, if not to philosophy? Now, if truth is believed to rest upon authority it is natural that it should be impressed upon the mind from the earliest age, since the essential thing is that it should be believed, but a truth which makes its appeal to reason must be content to wait till reason is developed. We are born into the Eastern, Western or Anglican communion or some other denomination, but it was of his own free choice that the serious minded young Greek or Roman embraced the tenets of one of the great sects which divided the world of philosophy. The motive which led him to do so in the first instance may have been merely the influence of a friend or a discourse from some eloquent speaker, but the choice once made was his own choice, and he adhered to it as such. Conversions from one sect to another were of quite rare occurrence. A certain Dionysius of Heraclea, who went over from the Stoics to the Cyrenaics, was ever afterward known as the deserter.
It was as difficult to be independent in philosophy as it is with us to be independent in politics. When a young man joined a school, he committed himself to all its opinions, not only as to the end of life, which was the main point of division, but as to all questions on all subjects. The Stoic did not differ merely in his ethics from the Epicurean; he differed also in his theology and his physics and his metaphysics. Aristotle, as Shakespeare knew, thought young men unfit to hear moral philosophy
. And yet it was a question—or rather the question—of moral philosophy, the answer to which decided the young man’s opinions on all other points. The language which Cicero sometimes uses about the seriousness of the choice made in early life and how a young man gets entrammelled by a school before he is really able to judge, reminds us of what we hear said nowadays about the danger of a young man’s taking orders before his opinions are formed. To this it was replied that a young man only exercised the right of private judgment in selecting the authority whom he should follow, and, having once done that, trusted to him for all the rest. With the analogue of this contention also we are familiar in modern times. Cicero allows that there would be something in it, if the selection of the true philosopher did not above all things require the philosophic mind. But in those days it was probably the case, as it is now, that, if a man did not form speculative opinions in youth, the pressure of affairs would not leave him leisure to do so later.
The life span of Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, was from B.C. 347 to 275. He did not begin teaching till 315, at the mature age of forty. Aristotle had passed away in 322, and with him closed the great constructive era of Greek thought. The Ionian philosophers had speculated on the physical constitution of the universe, the Pythagoreans on the mystical properties of numbers; Heraclitus had propounded his philosophy of fire, Democritus and Leucippus had struck out a rude form of the atomic theory, Socrates had raised questions relating to man, Plato had discussed them with all the freedom of the dialogue, while Aristotle had systematically worked them out. The later schools did not add much to the body of philosophy. What they did was to emphasize different sides of the doctrine of their predecessors and to drive views to their logical