Stoicism

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Stoicism is a philosophical school founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. C. It is a philosophy of personal ethics based on his logical system and his views on the natural world. The Stoics believed that everything around them operated according to a law of cause and effect, resulting in a rational structure of the universe. They thought that "we cannot control what happens around us, but we can control what we think about these events" instead of imagining a false positive ideal society.

His philosophical doctrine was based on the domain and control of the facts, things and passions that disturb life, using the courage and reason of personal character. As rational beings, their goal was to achieve, based on tolerance and self-control, eudaimonia (happiness or bliss) and the wisdom to accept the moment as it presents itself, by not being dominated by the desire for pleasure or the fear of pain., for using your mind to understand the world and doing your part in nature's plan regardless of material goods, working together and treating others fairly and equitably.

The Stoics are especially known for teaching that "virtue is the only good" for human beings, and that such external things as health, wealth, and pleasure are not in themselves good or bad ( adiaphoria ), but they have value as "material for virtue to act on". Along with Aristotelian ethics, the Stoic tradition constitutes one of the main foundational approaches to virtue ethics. The Stoics also held that certain destructive emotions were the result of errors in judgment, and believed that people should aim to maintain a will (called prohairesis) that is "according to nature". Because of this, the Stoics thought that the best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said but how a person behaved. To live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order as they thought everything was rooted in nature.

Many Stoics, such as Seneca and Epictetus, emphasized that because "virtue suffices for happiness," a sage would be emotionally resistant to misfortune. This belief is similar to the meaning of the phrase "stoic calm", although the phrase does not include the "radical ethical" stoic views that only a wise man can be considered truly free and that all moral corruptions are equally vicious.

During the Hellenistic period it acquired greater importance and diffusion, gaining great popularity throughout the Greco-Roman world, especially among the Roman elites. Its period of pre-eminence goes from the third century a. C. until the end of the 2nd century AD. C., and among his followers was the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. After this, it showed signs of exhaustion that coincided with the social decomposition of the early Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity. Since then it has seen revivals, especially in the Renaissance (Neostoicism) and in the contemporary era (Modern Stoicism).

Etymology

Origins

Stoicism was originally known as "Zenonism", after the founder Zeno of Citium. However, this name was soon dropped, probably because the Stoics did not consider their founders to be perfectly wise and to avoid the risk of philosophy becoming a cult of personality. The name "Stoicism" derives from the Stoa Poikile ( Ancient Greek: ἡ ποικίλη στοά), or "painted porch", a colonnade decorated with scenes of mythical and historical battles, on the north side of the Agora of Athens, where Zeno and his followers met to discuss their ideas.

Modern use

The word "stoic" commonly refers to someone who is indifferent to pain, pleasure, sorrow, or joy. Modern usage as "person who represses feelings or patiently endures" was first cited in 1579 as a noun and in 1596 as an adjective. The DRAE defines "stoic" as "strong, even in the face of misfortune" and "stoicism" as "strength or control over one's own sensibility". In contrast to the term "epicurean", in the notes from the Stoicism entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "the meaning of the English adjective Stoic is not wholly misleading with respect to its philosophical origins. "

Historical perspective

Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium (ca. 333-262 BC)—sometimes called Zeno the Stoic to distinguish him from Zeno of Elea—who was of Cypriot origin and possibly of mixed Greek and Oriental descent.He moved to Athens in 311 BC. C. after a hectic life. At that time Athens was the cultural center of the Greek world, where the main schools of philosophy congregated. During his stay, he came into contact with Socratic philosophy, especially that of the Cynic school, and the Megarian. According to Diogenes Laertius, he was initially inclined to cynicism, being someone especially close to Crates, but soon abandoned this school by rejecting the numerous "exaggerations" that they incurred, because they could not offer him any valid life program. After this abandonment of cynicism, he studied with other philosophers from the Platonic, Aristotelian and Megaric schools but, dissatisfied with them, he ended up creating his own school, in which he combined multiple cynical aspects with those of other philosophers such as Heraclitus.From ancient times, the possible influence on Zeno of Semitic doctrines such as Judaism or Middle Eastern philosophies was studied; the considerable resemblance between Stoicism and Christianity in some doctrines, notably in ethics and cosmology, suggested to Christian panegyrists such as Quintilian and Tertullian that Zeno was familiar, from his Semitic background, with Judaism.

While the doctrines of Epicureanism were fixed by its founder, Stoicism had a long development. The history of Stoicism is divided into three periods: old "stóa", middle "stóa" and new "stóa".

Ancient stoicism

The term Stoicism comes from the place where Zeno began, in the year 301 BC. C., to give his lessons in the Stoá poikilé (in Greek Στοά, stoá, 'portico'), which was the painted Porticoof the Agora of Athens. He soon attracted a large following, who, after Zeno's death, would carry on and expand his philosophy. Stoicism was the last great school of philosophy in the Greek world to be founded, and it continued to exist until 529 AD. C. Emperor Justinian closed the School of Athens. The Cynic school had a clear influence on the Stoá. This is evident from the beginning of this, since the sources declare that its founder, Zeno de Citio, studied directly with a cynic: Crates. Late Stoics, such as Epictetus, identified the cynical Diogenes of Sinope as paragon of a wise man.

The doctrinal corpus of Stoicism was based on the writings of Zeno, now lost; however, it is known that he wrote numerous works among whose titles stood out: Of life according to nature ; Of the universals ; Dialectical Arguments and Of the Passions. When Zeno dies in 261 a. C. Cleanthes and Chrysippus take charge of the school. According to Laertius, it is to the latter that Stoicism endured: "Without Chrysippus there would have been no Stoa." Indeed, Chrysippus, who will lead the Stoáfrom 232 BC C. until his death, which occurred in 208 a. C., he fixed the canon of stoicism, perfected the logical investigations and systematized the teachings of Zeno. Unfortunately, only a few fragments and a few references made by other authors have survived from his work, making it difficult to discern which parts of the ideology are due to Zeno, Chrysippus and Cleanthes. In general, only a few fragments of the oldest Stoic texts have survived.

Middle stoicism

With the death of Chrysippus, the first phase of Stoicism, called Ancient Stoicism, came to an end. This first stage was characterized above all by the formal establishment of the doctrine. After Chrysippus, Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater of Tarsus led the school, beginning the period called Middle Stoicism. During it there is the expansion of Stoicism throughout the Mediterranean world, taking advantage of the momentum of the Hellenistic world and the commercial networks that emerged with the rise of Rome. Its main figures were Panethius of Rhodes (185-109 BC) and, above all, Posidonius of Apamea. Perhaps the most outstanding fact of this period was the introduction of Stoicism among the Roman elites. The Roman aristocratic society of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. C. highly valued the times of "our fathers", referring to the previous centuries in which the economic and military relevance of Rome was still scarce. The simplicity and sobriety of life in those times was idealized and exalted and, as in the entire Greek world, the more sophisticated modern luxuries and customs were viewed with distrust. that had been introduced as the Roman Republic gained prominence. The Stoic doctrine, very favorable to these views, was successfully introduced, and won such well-known adherents as Cato the Elder, Scipio Africanus, and Cato the Younger; the remarkable fame of these further favored Stoicism, which was soon the philosophical school most admired by the Romans. Of the writings of the middle period barely survive, again, a few fragmented texts.

New stoicism

Usually, it is considered that after the death of Cato the Younger and the resolution of the civil wars that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire, the last stage of Stoicism emerged, the so-called New Stoicism or Roman Stoicism.. The philosophers of this stage have become much more famous and well-known than the ancient Stoics (and their works are preserved in greater numbers), and materialized the implantation of Stoicism as the main doctrine of the Roman elites. Roman Stoicism stands out for its eminently practical aspect, where the logical, metaphysical or physical considerations of ancient Stoicism go into the background to develop, above all, the ethical aspect of the school. The main exponents of this stage, and possibly the most famous Stoics, were Lucius Anneus Seneca (4 BC-AD 65), one of the best-known Roman writers and perhaps the best-known Stoic, Epictetus (50- 130 AD), born a slave, and Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD). The work of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus allows us to approach,

After the death of Marcus Aurelius, Stoicism is considered to be in decline. The successive political, economic and military crises that devastate the Roman Empire during the third century, have as a consequence a revaluation of spirituality that Stoicism cannot face, giving rise to Neoplatonism, which, from 250 AD. C., will displace Stoicism as the main doctrine of the elites. The cultural turn of this time causes the Stoic life plan to be negatively considered; in this age, essentially, Stoicism will gain its reputation for stiffness and rigidity. Likewise, the rise of Christianity negatively affected all Hellenistic philosophical schools, as many of their teachings were rejected as contrary to Christian doctrine. For the year 300,

Chronology

Later influence

Stoicism will influence numerous later philosophical currents, from the first fathers of the Church to Descartes and Kant. As has been said, the early church fathers admired the ethics of Stoicism, which they considered especially close to their own; his calm, his serenity, as well as his position in the face of adversity made some Christians like Tertullian treat Stoics like Seneca in the terms of « saepe noster» (“often one of our own”), while Saint Jerome included him in his catalog of saints. The legend even spread that Seneca had been baptized before dying by Saint Paul, with whom he would also have corresponded, and that Marcus Aurelius would have also corresponded with the pope and some Roman Christians. During the Renaissance, Stoicism gained diffusion among humanist and academic currents: Calvin's first work was an edition of De clementiaof Seneca, and references to the new Stoicism are constant in Erasmus, Juan Luis Vives and Michel de Montaigne. At this time the stoic vital attitude was revalued; Today, the term "stoicism" is used daily to refer to the attitude of taking life's adversities with strength and acceptance.

Neostoicism

Neo-stoicism was a philosophical movement born in the 16th century that united elements of Stoicism and Christianity in its conception. It was founded by the Belgian humanist Justo Lipsio who in 1584 published his famous dialogue De constantia where he laid the foundations for this new philosophical and spiritual movement. Later he further developed his theory in the treatises Manductio ad stoicam philosophiam (Introduction to Stoic Philosophy), Physiologia stoicorum (Physics of Stoicism), and Ethica (Ethics).

Neo-stoicism is a practical philosophy that holds that the basic norm of life should be that the human being cannot give in to earthly passion but submit to the dictates of God. Neo-Stoicists distinguish between four Stoic passions : gluttony, joy, fear, and pain. He rediscovers the value of philosophers such as Epictetus and Seneca and links them to the biblical Book of Job.Neo-Stoicism had a direct influence on many writers of the 17th and 18th centuries such as: Montesquieu, Bossuet, Guillaume du Vair, Francis Bacon, Joseph Hall, Francisco de Quevedo or Juan de Vera y Figueroa.

Modern stoicism

Modern Stoicism is an intellectual and popular movement that began in the late 20th century with the goal of reviving the practice of Stoicism. Not to be confused with Neo-Stoicism, an analogous phenomenon in the 17th century. The term "modern Stoicism" covers both the revival of interest in Stoic philosophy and philosophical efforts to fit ancient Stoicism into the language and conceptual framework of the present. The rise of modern Stoicism has received international media attention since approximately November 2012, when the first annual Stoic Week event was organized.

Philosophical doctrines

Principles of Stoic philosophy

Philosophy does not promise to ensure anything external to man: otherwise it would mean admitting something that is beyond its true object of study and subject. For just as the carpenter's material is wood, and the sculptor's is bronze, the object of the art of living is one's own life.— Epictetus.

The Stoics proclaimed that freedom and tranquility can be achieved only by being indifferent to material comforts, external fortune and dedicating oneself to a life guided by the principles of reason and virtue (such is the idea of imperturbability or ataraxia).. Assuming a materialistic conception of nature, they followed Heraclitus in the belief that the first substance is found in fire and in the veneration of the logos, which they identified with the energy, law, reason and providence found in nature. The reason of men was also considered an integral part of the logosdivine and immortal. Stoic doctrine, which viewed each person as essential as a member of a universal family, helped break down regional, social, and racial barriers and pave the way for the spread of a universal religion. The Stoic doctrine of natural law, which makes human nature the norm for evaluating laws and social institutions, was highly influential in Rome and in later legislation in the West. It was also important in currents and later philosophers, such as Descartes and Kant.

The ancient Stoics divided philosophy into three parts (DL 7.41): logic (theory of knowledge and science, which includes rhetoric and dialectics), physics (science about the world and about things) and ethics ( behavioral science). All of them refer to aspects of the same reality: the universe as a whole and the knowledge about it. This can be explained and understood globally because it is a rationally organized structure of which man himself is an integral part, the most important facet being ethics.

They were based on 4 cardinal virtues:

Practical knowledge: the ability to handle complex situations with a calm mind.
Temperance: the ability to restrain and moderate the attraction of worldly pleasures and goods.
Justice: being fair to others even when they have made a mistake or disrespected us.
Courage: not only in extreme situations but in everyday life with clarity and integrity.

Logic

For the Stoics, the field of logic included not only what is modernly understood by it, but also epistemology, rhetoric, and grammar. In the field of logic they developed inductive logic. They divided logic into Rhetoric (science of correct saying) and Dialectics (DL 7.41).

Propositional logic

Diodorus Cronos, 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, which makes it makes it very different from Aristotle's logic. Chrysippus later developed a system that became known as Stoic logic and included a deductive system, Stoic syllogistics, which was considered a rival to Aristotle's syllogistics (see syllogism). The 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 the philosophical logic of Chrysippus and that of Gottlob Frege are especially striking.

Bobzien also notes that "Chrysippus wrote more than 300 books on logic, on virtually every topic that interests logic today, including speech act theory, sentence analysis, singular and plural expressions, types of predicates, indices.", existential propositions, sentence connectors, negations, disjunctions, conditionals, logical consequence, valid forms of argument, deduction theory, propositional logic, modal logic, temporal logic, epistemic logic, assumption theory, imperative logic, ambiguity and logical paradoxes".

Epistemology

The Stoics proposed that knowledge can be obtained through the use of reason. The truth can be distinguished from the fallacy, although, in practice, only an approximation can be made. According to the Stoics, the senses are constantly receiving sensations: pulsations passing from objects through the senses to the mind, where they leave an impression on the imagination ( phantasiai, an impression arising from the mind is called a phantasma ).

The mind has the ability to judge (συγκατάθεσις, synkatathesis ) —approve or reject—an impression, allowing it to distinguish a true representation of reality from one that is false. Some impressions can be accepted immediately, but others can only achieve varying degrees of hesitant approval, which can be labeled belief or opinion ( doxa ). Only through reason do we gain clear understanding and conviction ( katalepsis ). Certain and true knowledge ( episteme ), attainable by the Stoic sage, can only be achieved by verifying the conviction with the experience of peers and the collective judgment of mankind.

The skeptics, very influential from the 2nd century BC. C. tried to make man independent of the world by abstaining from judgment. They doubted the possibility of sensible knowledge, through discursive thought, and the results of combining both. Protagoras' relativism is the basis of the skeptical doubt regarding the senses. They cannot be an immediate reproduction of things if the perception varies from individual to individual and between different situations of the same individual or of the object. These contingencies cannot be avoided, so there is no possibility of sensible knowledge. On the other hand, opinions are conditioned by custom. Faced with the contradiction of opinions, the truth cannot be distinguished. Aristotle's method of syllogistic deduction depends on the premises. These premises can neither be admitted without proof nor can they be simply hypothetical. Therefore, the path of knowledge from the general to the particular through the syllogism is impossible, since the starting point is uncertain. So the best thing from the skeptical point of view is to refrain from judging, since nothing can be said beyond what seems.

Against them, the Stoics, philosophers concerned essentially with ethical problems, maintain that virtue is reached through knowledge. Therefore, they must seek knowledge despite all objections, and for this they must find an accurate criterion of truth. They consider that perception leaves the impression of the external in the soul, that at birth it would be like a wax tablet on which the external prints its signs. The general representations are due to the link between impressions or their permanence. There are, then, neither Platonic ideas nor an external energy that produces concepts. On this basis, the main argument of the Stoics to affirm the existence of a criterion of truth is that impressions are the same for all individuals. They consider that the consensus of men on the representations can be taken as a starting point for the demonstration. However, in the latest Stoicism there are changes regarding this point. For Cicero it is not about the consensus between individuals, but about innate representations, present from birth in each one. According to Cicero, man is born with moral principles, belief in God and others.

Regarding perceptions, the Stoics consider that the criterion of true knowledge is the evidence of perception or sensible experience, that is, the senses. This is defined as sensualist theory of knowledge.

The information that enters through the senses leaves a perception in our reason. These perceptions are true - when there is an error or contradiction it is because of opinion, not perception - but they are still not knowledge. First they must be subjected to rationality, from there if they start to form concepts and general judgments.

Physical

In the field of physics they returned to the philosophy of Heraclitus: everything is subject to change, to movement. Physics, according to Stoicism, is the study of the nature of both the physical world as a whole and each of the beings that comprise it, including divine beings, humans, and animals. Fundamentally speculative, and in clear debt with the thought of Parmenides of Elea (unity of being) and Heraclitus, Stoic physics conceives nature as an artistic fire in the process of creating.

According to the Stoics, the Universe is a reasoning material substance ( logos ), known as God or Nature, which is divided into two classes: the active and the passive. The passive substance is matter, which "remains inactive, a substance ready for any use, but sure to be unused if no one sets it in motion." The active substance, which may be called Fate or Universal Reason ( logos ), it is an intelligent ether or primordial fire, which acts on passive matter.The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of his soul; it is the guiding principle of this very world, which operates in the mind and reason, together with the common nature of things and the totality that encompasses all existence; then the foreordained power and necessity of the future; then fire and the principle of ether; 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.Chrysippus, in Cicero,

De Natura Deorum, I. 39.

The universe is a harmonious and causally related whole (that is, everything is related by a series of causes), governed by an active principle, the cosmic and universal Logos in which man also participates. This cosmic logos, which is always the same, is also called pneuma ('breath', Spiritu in Latin), fiery breath, natural law, nature ( physis ), necessity and moira ('destiny', fatum in Latin), names all of them that refer to a power that creates, unifies and holds all things together and that is not simply a physical power: the pneuma or logosuniversal is a fundamentally rational entity: it is God (pantheism), a soul of the world or mind (reason) that governs everything and from whose law nothing and no one can escape. Immanent in the world, the logos is corporeal, penetrates and acts on matter ( hylé ): passive, inert and eternal principle that, by virtue of the pneuma or logos, produces all being and happening. Everything in nature is a mixture of these two corporeal principles (materialism).

Everything is subject to the laws of Fate, because the Universe acts according to its own nature and the nature of the passive matter it governs. The souls of human beings and animals are emanations of this primordial Fire and, likewise, are subject to Fate:Constantly consider the universe as a living being, having a substance and a soul; and observe how all things have reference to a perception, the perception of this living being; and how all things act with a single movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things that exist; also note the continuous spinning of the thread and the structure of the net.Marcus Aurelius,

Meditations, IV. 40.

Although nature ( physis ) is fully rational, it does not govern all beings in the same way:

Men are born with a soul as if it were a "clean slate" but when they acquire a certain maturity they can, through the use of a "fantasy" accept or reject the impressions that the "icons" that give off things fix in the soul as concepts. When the mature man exercises a "cataleptic fantasy" he is able to understand the truth of the concepts, from said impressions and elaborate from the same true judgments and true reasoning.
In irrational animals through a sensitive soul that perceives but does not know.
Through a plant soul in plants.
Through the local movement of atoms governed by fatum or destiny.

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 correct reason is the foundation of both humanity and the universe, it follows that the goal of life is to live according to reason, that is, to live a life according to nature.

Stoic theology is pantheistic, fatalistic and naturalistic: God is never completely transcendent, but always immanent and identified with Nature; it is the same world in its totality that is divine, which justifies that the belief in the gods, despite their heterogeneity, is universal. Abrahamic religions personalize God as a creator entity of the world, but Stoicism equates God with the totality of the universe

The conception of a cosmos endowed with an intelligent guiding principle leads to a deterministic vision of the world where nothing random can happen: everything is governed by a rational law that is immanent (like its logos ) and necessary; destiny is nothing more than the strict chain of events (causes) linked to each other: «The previous events are the cause of those that follow them, and in this way all things are linked to each other, and thus nothing happens any in the world that is not entirely a consequence of that and linked to it as to its cause. (SVF, II, 945).

Chance does not exist; it is the simple causal ignorance of events. If our mind could grasp the total interlocking (connection) of causes, it could understand the past, know the present, and predict the future. This world is the best of all possible and our existence contributes to this universal project, so, as we will see, we should not fear fate, but accept it.

According to Stoic cosmology, which is very similar to the Hindu conception of existence, there is no absolute beginning of time, since it is considered infinite and cyclical. Similarly, space and the Universe have neither a beginning nor an end, rather they are cyclical. The current Universe is a phase of the current cycle, preceded by an infinite number of Universes, doomed to be destroyed ("ekpyrōsis", conflagration ) and recreated again, and to be followed by another infinite number of Universes. The world unfolds in great cosmic cycles ( aión, 'cosmic year'), of a fixed duration, at the end of which everything will begin again, including ourselves. Stoicism regards all existence as cyclical, the cosmos as eternally self-created and self-destructive (See also: Eternal return).

The first philosophers to explicitly describe nominalist arguments were the Stoics, especially Chrysippus.

Ethics: Stoic Morality

Since all the events of the world are rigorously determined and man is part of the universal logos, freedom can only consist in the acceptance of our own destiny, which fundamentally lies in living in accordance with nature. For this, man must know what facts are true and on what the truth of him is based.

The good and the virtue consist, therefore, in living according to reason, avoiding the passions ( pathos), which are nothing but deviations from our own rational nature. Passion is the opposite of reason, it is something that happens and cannot be controlled, therefore it should be avoided. The Stoics used to reduce the passions to pleasure, sadness, pain, and fear; these reactions must be mastered through self-control exercised by reason. For this reason, a simple exercise is proposed: faced with embarrassment due to a situation that generates nonconformity in the being, one must analyze the situation and ask oneself: does it depend on me? If not, you must accept and understand that everything that happens is part of a cosmic project. If the answer is yes, a solution can be reasoned that returns impassibility ( apátheia, from which apathy derives) and imperturbability ( ataraxia ).).

From this it follows that passions, like pain, are inevitable but suffering is optional. The being suffers from the way in which he judges the events that happen to him. Therefore, only the ignorant are unaware of the universal logos and allow themselves to be carried away by their passions. And the ideal sage is one who lives according to reason, is free from passion and considers himself a citizen of the world. Cosmopolitanism, which defends the equality and solidarity of men.

The four cardinal virtues ( aretai ) of Stoic philosophy are a classification derived from the teachings of Plato ( Republic IV. 426–435):

Wisdom (Greek: φρόνησις " phronesis ", or σοφία " sophia "; Latin: prudentia or sapientia )
Courage (Greek: ανδρεία " andreia "; Latin: fortitudo )
Justice (Greek: δικαιοσύνη " dikaiosyne "; Latin: iustitia )
Temperance (Greek: σωφροσύνη "sophrosyne ", Latin: temperantia )

After Socrates, the Stoics held that unhappiness and evil are the result of human ignorance of reason in nature. If someone is not kind, it is because he is not aware of his own universal reason, which leads to the conclusion of cruelty. The solution to evil and unhappiness, then, is the practice of Stoic philosophy: examining one's judgments and behavior and determining where they diverge from the universal reason of nature.

The Stoics accepted that suicide was permissible for the wise person in circumstances that might prevent him from living a virtuous life. Plutarch argued that accepting life under tyranny would have compromised Cato the Younger's ( constantia ) consistency as a Stoic and impaired his freedom to make honorable moral choices. Suicide might be justified if a person is the victim of severe pain or illness, but otherwise suicide would generally be seen as a denial of social duty.

The doctrine of "indifferent things"

In philosophical terms, things that are indifferent are outside the application of the moral law, that is, without a tendency to promote or obstruct moral ends. Actions that are neither required nor prohibited by the moral law, or that do not affect morality, are called morally indifferent. The doctrine of indifferent things (ἀδιάφορα, adiaphoria ) arose in the Stoic school as a corollary to its diametrical opposition of virtue and vice (καθήκοντα kathekonta, "expedient actions", or actions in accordance with nature; and ἁμαρτήματα hamartemata, errors). As a result of this dichotomy, a large class of objects were left unassigned and thus considered indifferent.

Ultimately, three subclasses of "indifferent things" developed: things to prefer because they help life according to nature; things to avoid because they get in the way; and indifferent things in the strict sense. The principle of adiaphora was also common to the Cynics. Felipe Melanchthon revived the doctrine of indifferent things during the Renaissance.

A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism; According to the Stoics, all people are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should live in brotherly love and help each other. In the Discourses, Epictetus comments on man's relation to the world: "Each human being is chiefly a citizen of his own community; but he is also a member of the great city of gods and men, of which the political city is only one. copy." This sentiment echoes that of Diogenes of Sinope, who said: "I am neither an Athenian nor 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 in the Greco-Roman world, producing a number of notable writers and personalities, including Cato the Younger and Epictetus.

In particular, they were noted for their urge for mercy towards slaves. Seneca exhorted: "Kindly remember that he whom you call a slave was born of the same stock, he is smiled upon by the same heavens, and on equal terms with yourself he breathes, lives and dies.

Main figures

Ancient Stoicism (3rd-2nd centuries BC) :	Middle Stoicism (2nd–1st centuries BC):	New or Roman Stoicism (1st-3rd centuries AD):
Zeno of CitiumAriston of ChiosApollophanesHeril of ChalcedonDionysus of HeracleiaPerseus of CitiumCleanthesChrysippusSphere	Panetius (180–110 BC)Posidonius (155–51 BC)	SenecaMusonius RufusepictetusSixth of ChaeroneaMarcus Aurelius

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