1. Core Ideas
2. Virtue
3. Ethics
4. Good and Virtue
5. Value
6. Emotions
7. Justice and Cosmopolitanism

Sources: everything discussed in this page is based on the book "La ricerca del pensiero. Storia, testi e problemi della filosofia" volume 1B by Nicola Abbagnano and Giovanni Fornero.

The school of Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium (approximately 336 - 264 a.C.), It was named after the place where they held public lectures, which was supposed to be an open space where everyone could participate in discussions. He thought that life needed to be lived following philosophy (science) to reach wisdom by exercising virtue: "Philosophy is exercise of virtue, through virtue itself; because there cannot be virtue without exercising, neither exercising virtue without virtue" - Seneca.

Virtue was divided into the natural, the moral and reason. Consequently, philosophy was divided into physics, ethics and logic. In early teachings, logic was the foundation of everything else therefore It was taught first. In physics, they thought that there was an universal order in nature, which is destiny. God was nature itself, forever present in everything and perfect. I will now focus on the ethics since It is the most relevant part nowadays.

Ethics is based around the idea that every human tends to live in harmony with the world and nature, which is perfect. This tendency was referred to as "oikeiôsis" which could be translated to "orientation" or "affinity". This process is moved by two forces: instinct, which guides the animal to seek food and breed for his own survival, and reason, which connects an human with himself and with nature in general. Acting towards this rational order is our duty:

"The term Duty is applied to that for which, when done, a reasonable defense can be adduced. […] And it is an action in itself adapted to nature's arrangements. […] Befitting acts are all those which reason prevails with us to do: and this is the case with honoring one's parents, brothers and country, and intercourse with friends. Unbefitting, or contrary to duty, are all acts that reason deprecates, e.g. to neglect one's parents, to be indifferent to one's brothers, not to agree with friends, to disregard the interests of one's country, and so forth. Acts which fall under neither of the foregoing classes are those which reason neither urges us to do nor forbids, such as picking up a twig, holding a style or a scraper, and the like." - Lives of eminent philosophers by Diogenes Laertius, Hicks, Robert Drew, 1850-1929, VII, 107-109.

There is a distinction between good and virtue. Good is when the rational choice is repeated with constancy until It becomes a natural disposition, that is a virtue. Virtue can have different names based on what It is referring to: wisdom for men's duties, temperance for impulses, fortress for obstacle, and justice for distributions of goods.

There is no middle ground between virtue and vice: like a piece of wood is either straight or curve, a man is just or unjust, and not partially one or the other. A man that is not wise is a madman, wild.

If something does not constitute virtue, nor Its contrary, than they are indifferent. Here stoicism tells us that if reason leads us nowhere, for example a tragedy or wealth or beauty, we should be indifferent. Still, sometimes there are things that should be preferred to others that may contribute us to leave a life with reason, which are referred to as "value".

Stoic ethic rejects the value of emotions, they are just opinions not driven by reason. They define four types of emotions: lust for wealth, delight of wealth, fear of future evils, affliction for present evils. In opposition to those, the wise should have power of will, joy and caution. His condition is one of apathy, meaning to be indifferent of any emotion. Note that stoicism does not say to repress emotions, but not to engage with them at all.

Since the natural order (and reason) is something common to everyone, all humans have a natural right which is the base of modern justice. For the stoic, every human is a citizen of the world, where everyone is free. The only possible enslavement is the one of the mad with regards to his emotions when he does not act according to reason.

Travel: Stoicism, Index