Class Synopsis

Jared Bordere

Hellenistic Philosophy

3 March 2, 2011

Class Synopsis

Last class we cover ample content within Stoicism. We learned that the Stoics accept God as corporeal. God is what is. The theory of Stoicism rejects the theory of Epicurus because they believe there is no discreteness. There is unity in everything. Plurality does not exist. Space is actually just a measurement of things. Phusis implies matter, and matter gives forms to all things. Therefore, God is matter. Phusis is also logos. God, Phusis, and logos are all viewed as a unity as well. This unity is viewed as fire; the best analogy is a fire. Fire is all consuming and it is connected to air. Stoics believe it is an intrinsic principle which gives form to any and everything. Phusis is not just a material but is what allows to be what is.

Stoics believe the world is run on a divine providence. This goes against the perspective that the world is mechanistic and disregards chance. Everything is meant to be, and there is a perfection in the world. Fate is in existence with necessity. Everything in the world is fated. Causes are infinite in the world. Nevertheless, there is speculation of freedom in Stoicism. Stoics believe we have freedom in our will; once we accept faith we are free. A quote to illustrate this concept is, “Fate leads the willing, but the unwilling are dragged along.”

Lastly, we started to learn stoic ethics. Stoics teach happiness is the aim of philosophy. Logos would bring humans to completeness. We have a duty to make reasoning complete, and this would be viewed as virtuous. Happiness has an egalitarian sense to it; happiness is accessible to all. We learn that necessity and fate is indifferent to most of our desires. Happiness demands good and reason. We subject ourselves to pain when we give value to things that don’t have value thus, causing our unhappiness. To completely understand this we must have comprehension of the concept of our natural primary instinct which is Oikeioisis. Oikeioisis is the belief that all things seek to preserve themselves. It is an attachment or being at home in the world. When we use reason we can bring ourselves into harmony with the world.