Week- 5 Lesson -6

Topic: Stoic and Epicurean Philosophy

Course Title: European History and Philosophy Highlights.

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9OCA6UFE-

0&t=3s

In this Session we will study about:-

1 Stoicism

2 Cynicism and Epicurean Philosophy

Stoicism

A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation,
mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.”

- Nassim Taleb

I first found Stoic philosophy by chance around 10 years ago when I picked up

a copy of Philosophy For Life and Other Dangerous Situations.

The first thing that stood out was its refreshing honesty, direct approach and
practicality for everyday life. With a focus on dealing with hardship, taking
personal responsibility, and reducing stress and suffering.

My bookshelves up to that point saw an increasing number of “self-help” books

that promised happiness, confidence, peace of mind, etc. If I’m honest, most of
them were BS. However, in Stoicism and the stoic philosophers, was a 2000
year old philosophy that added more value to my life than all of the other books
and their combined pages.

Since then, it’s grown into the foundation of my personal philosophy I use day
to day.

So what is it?

Definition of Stoicism

The Founder of Stoic Philosophy:

Stoicism is a school of ancient philosophy of life founded around 300BC by a

man called Zeno of Citium.

Zeno was a former merchant who was lucky enough to have lost everything he
had in a shipwreck before becoming a student of the Cynic school of
philosophy.

I say he was lucky because through this temporary adversity he became the
founder of one of history’s greatest philosophies. The name Stoic comes from
the Greek word for porch — Stoa.

When the Stoic founder Zeno began his school of thought he did not have the
money to buy a building. Plato had his academy, Aristotle had his Lyceum, but
Zeno’s followers met to discuss their philosophy on the streets of Athens under
the shade of the Stoa Poikile, a colonnade decorated with mythic and historical
battle scenes, on the north side of the Agora in Athens. Anyone was welcome to
listen and debate ideas, creating the very first group of Stoics.

Stoicism & Happiness:

The philosophy is one of practicality, and focuses on the question: How can we
find a path to happiness (which the stoics called eudaimonia)?
It was a philosophy for the everyday men and women of the world, not just for
educated aristocrats or isolated philosophers in their halls of books, and sages
up their mountains.

For the Stoics, their practical path to eudaimonia (happiness) is grounded in a

few core principles:

1. The ability to view ourselves, the world, and it’s people objectively and
accept their nature as it is.

2. The discipline to prevent ourselves from being controlled by the desire

for pleasure or the fear of pain and suffering

3. Making the distinction between what is within our power to influence,

and what is not. Using this information we act on what can be acted upon,
and we dismiss what can’t.

The People’s Philosophy:

Stoic philosophy was used by anyone from the soldiers of the ancient world, all
the way up to the emperor Marcus Aurelius himself. Growing to become one of
the most prominent philosophies of Greece and Rome. In fact Stoic philosophy
was only truly rivalled, and eventually overtaken, by Christianity.

So why was Stoic philosophy so popular amongst such a wide range of people?
In two words — It Works.

This was a time when war, famine, exile, death, disease and many more external
threats were far more common than they are now. The potential for suffering
was huge, specifically suffering caused by external events. And these are
exactly the situations in which Stoic philosophy thrives.

The Stoics teach that we are not disturbed by events, only how we respond to
them.
They also teach that there is very little inside our control. Merely our thoughts,
beliefs, perceptions and actions. That’s it.

These two ideas are important for a number of reasons.

1. Firstly, it instructs us to take responsibility for how we view things,

because this is the true cause of suffering. Rather than just blaming the
world or other people for our shitty situation or our crappy mood, we are
empowered to accept that it’s us who create our happiness. No one else.

2. Secondly, it draws a line between what we do and do not have control

over. Many people suffer because we get upset about, or try and control
the things in life that we have no control over. And, of course, this leads
us to feel helpless, ineffective, powerless, bitter, resentful. We suffer.

3. However, when we focus on what we can control, we start to become

effective, efficient, we solve problems more easily, we suffer less. The
key is to accept that there is very little within our control, and focus of
effort is that small patch of land that we own. Our thoughts, our actions,
our perspective and our beliefs.

I have put together a foundation here at Orion that structures ideas from Stoic
philosophy (and some from other places), specifically designed to create a
framework for a positive and resilient state of mind.

Follow the link below to find out more.

Stoic Philosophy Practices:

1. The Dichotomy Of Control:

“To achieve freedom and happiness, you need to grasp this basic truth: some
things in life are under your control, and others are not.
Within your control are your own opinions, aspirations, desires, and the things
that repel you. We always have a choice about the contents and character of our
inner lives.

Not within your control is literally everything else. You must remember these
things are externals, and none of your concern.”

-Epictetus

The concept of control is a core of practical Stoic philosophy, when understood

it allows us to clearly see the areas of our life that we are able to influence, and
those which are outside the reach of our control. This, by extension, gives us the
ability to stop wasting our time and energy on what we can’t control and accept
it, and at the same time helps us focus on the areas of our life we can control.

However, when misunderstood this dichotomy of control can create feelings of

frustration, helplessness, depression, meaninglessness and bitterness as we try to
exert control over external areas of life of which we have no control.

The concept of control is not unique to the Stoics, it has risen its head across
multiple cultures throughout history as a method for living a more aware and
fulfilling life, from Buddhists, to Hebrews, to feudal Japan and ancient Greeks.

The Stoics believed that a fundamental key to reduce suffering and live a good
life, is to make a clear distinction between that which is inside our control and
that which is not. As we come closer to understanding this distinction we can
begin to focus our energy and time on what we can influence and come to
accept what we cannot.

The US Army’s Leadership manual contains the following:

“It is crucial for leaders to remain calm under pressure and to expend energy on
things they can positively influence and not worry about things they cannot”
The world’s most successful addiction program shares the same philosophy,
Alcoholics Anonymous recite the Serenity Prayer:

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.”

This philosophy has been used time and time again to pull people from the dark
corners of their lives, back into the light and is used by the US Army to build
leaders. It can just as easily be applied to everyday life to prevent frustration,
feelings of powerlessness and to build empowerment and effectiveness. No
matter where we are in our path through life, taking responsibility of
distinguishing what is in our control and what is not will allow us to see where
we can affect change and where we can stop wasting our time. Acceptance and
awareness begin to replace complaint and frustration.

Be aware that the only thing we fully control are our beliefs and our actions.

Ask Yourself:

Where in your life do you try and control things outside the reach of your
sovereignty?

1. The thoughts, opinions and beliefs of other people

2. The economy, job market, political climate

3. Your body, age, hunger, desire, emotion

Where in your life do you neglect control of things within your sovereignty?

2. Memento Mori
Memento Mori is the practice of contemplating your own mortality, or
remembering that one day you will die.

Sounds morbid? I know, but bear with me.

In his letters, Seneca the Younger explains the benefit of meditating on death:

“ Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us
postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day…The one who puts the
finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time. “

This idea can seem strange to those who first come across it. Why would you
want to think about your own death? In reality, there is a real, practical benefit.

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus recommended that we all remind ourselves that
we will die. He did this because when we recognise that our time is limited, we
appreciate each moment more intently. When we are with loved ones, we don’t
know how many moments like this we’ll have, so we become more present,
focused and grateful.

The concept of Memento Mori takes something destructive like death and turns
it into a tool to more vividly enjoy life.

The Emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius practised Memento Mori to help guide
his actions. In his journal, Meditations, he wrote:

“ You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and
think. “

Stoic philosophy does not view death as a painful concept to be avoided. It is

seen as an inevitable part of life that should be embraced and used to more fully
appreciate life.

Memento Mori helps us prioritise what really matters but reminding us that time
is finite.
3. Amor Fati

The Stoics used Amor Fati to accept the world around them and prevent peace
of mind being affected by events outside of their control.

Amor Fati translates to the love of fate.

“Frightened of change? But what can exist without it?

What’s closer to nature’s heart? Can you take a hot bath and
leave the firewood as it was? Eat food without transforming
it? Can any vital process take place without something being
changed?

Can’t you see? It’s just the same with you-and just as vital to nature.”

- Marcus Aurelius

The world is change. Everything that has happened, from the beginning of time
has led to you being where you are and who you are. There can be no other
way.

Between then and now life has been in constant flux, a sequence of change that
can be for the better of for the worse, but it is almost always out of our control.

The Stoics instruct us to love fate. Accept it as a part of life, do what we can
with what is within our power and take the rest as it happens. After all, fate has
given us the gift of experience.

Cynicism

Cynicism is a school of philosophy from the Socratic period of ancient Greece,

which holds that the purpose of life is to live a life of Virtue in agreement with
Nature (which calls for only the bare necessities required for existence). This
means rejecting all conventional desires for health, wealth, power and fame, and
living a life free from all possessions and property.
Cynics lived in the full glare of the public's gaze and aimed to be quite
indifferent in the face of any insults which might result from their
unconventional behavior. They saw part of their job as acting as the watchdog
of humanity, and to evangelize and hound people about the error of their ways,
particularly criticizing any show of greed, which they viewed as a major cause
of suffering. Many of their ideas (see the section on the doctrine of Cynicism
for more details) were later absorbed into Stoicism.

The founder of Cynicism as a philosophical movement is usually considered to

be Antisthenes (c. 445 - 365 B.C.), who had been one of the most important
pupils of Socrates in the early 5th Century B.C. He preached a life of poverty,
but his teachings also covered language, dialogue and literature in addition to
the pure Ethics which the later Cynics focused on.

Antisthenes was followed by Diogenes of Sinope, who lived in a tub on the

streets of Athens, and ate raw meat, taking Cynicism to its logical extremes.
Diogenes dominates the story of Cynicism like no other figure, and he came to
be seen as the archetypal Cynic philosopher. He dedicated his life to self-
sufficiency ("autarkeia"), austerity ("askesis") and shamelessness ("anaideia"),
and was famed for his biting satire and wit.

Crates of Thebes (c. 365 - 285 B.C.), who gave away a large fortune so he could
live a life of poverty in Athens, was another influential and respected Cynic of
the period. Other notable Greek Cynics include Onesicritus (c. 360 - 290 B.C.),
Hipparchia (c. 325 B.C.), Metrocles (c. 325 B.C.), Bion of Borysthenes (c. 325 -
255 B.C.), Menippus (c. 275 B.C.), Cercidas (c. 250 B.C.) and Teles (c. 235
B.C.).

With the rise of Stoicism in the 3rd Century B.C., Cynicism as a serious
philosophical activity underwent a decline, and it was not until the Roman era
that there was a Cynic revival. Cynicism spread with the rise of Imperial Rome
in the 1st Century A.D., and Cynics could be found begging and preaching
throughout the cities of the Roman Empire, where they were treated with a
mixture of scorn and respect. Cynicism seems to have thrived into the 4th
Century A.D., unlike Stoicism, which had long declined by that time. Notable
Roman Cynics include Demetrius (c. 10 - 80 A.D.), Demonax (c. 70 - 170
A.D.), Oenomaus (c. 120 A.D.), Peregrinus Proteus (c. 95 - 167 A.D.) and
Sallustius (c. 430 - 500 A.D.).Cynicism finally disappeared in the late 5th
Century A.D., although many of its ascetic ideas and rhetorical methods were
adopted by early Christians.

Epicureanism

Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based on the teachings of Epicurus,

founded around 307 B.C. It teaches that the greatest good is to seek modest
pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquillity, freedom from fear ("ataraxia")
and absence from bodily pain ("aponia"). This combination of states is held to
constitute happiness in its highest form, and so Epicureanism can be considered
a form of Hedonism, although it differs in its conception of happiness as the
absence of pain, and in its advocacy of a simple life.

Epicurus directed that this state of tranquillity could be obtained through

knowledge of the workings of the world and the limiting of desires. Thus,
pleasure was to be obtained by knowledge, friendship and living a virtuous and
temperate life. He lauded the enjoyment of "simple pleasures", by which he
meant abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on
Asceticism. He counseled that "a cheerful poverty is an honorable state".

He argued for moderation in all things, so that when eating, for example, one
should not eat too richly, for it could lead to dissatisfaction later, such as
indigestion or the grim realization that one could not afford such delicacies in
the future. Likewise, sex could lead to increased lust and dissatisfaction with the
sexual partner, and Epicurus himself remained celibate. Even learning, culture
and civilization were discouraged, as they could result in disturbing one’s peace
of mind, except insofar as knowledge could help rid oneself of religious fears
and superstitions, such as the fear of the gods and of death.

Generally speaking, Epicureans shunned politics as having no part in the quest

for ataraxia and aponia, and likewise a potential source of unsatisfiable desires
and frustration, which was to be avoided. Like Democritus and Leucippus
before him, Epicurus was an Atomist, believing that all matter, souls and gods
are all comprised of atoms, and even thoughts are merely atoms swerving
randomly.

Epicurus was one of the first to develop a notion of justice as a kind of social
contract, an agreement "neither to harm nor be harmed". He argued that laws
and punishments in society are important so that individuals can be free to
pursue happiness, and a just law is one that contributes to promoting human
happiness. In some respects, this was an early contribution to the much later
development of Liberalism and of Utilitarianism.

In modern popular usage, an epicure is a connoisseur of the arts of life and the
refinements of sensual pleasures, especially of good food and drink, attributable
to a misunderstanding of the Epicurean doctrine, as promulgated by Christian
polemicists.

History of Epicureanism

Epicureanism was originally a conceived by Epicurus as a challenge to

Platonism although, arguably, Democritus had propounded a very similar
philosophy almost a century earlier. Along with Stoicism and Skepticism), the
school of Epicureanism later became one of the three dominant schools of
Hellenistic philosophy, lasting strongly through the later Roman Empire.
During Epicurus' lifetime, its members included Hermarchus, Idomeneus,
Colotes, Polyaenus and Metrodorus.

Lucretius (99 - 55 B.C.) was the school's greatest Roman proponent, composing
an epic poem, "De Rerum Natura" ("On the Nature of Things") on the
Epicurean philosophy of nature. The poet Horace (65 - 8 B.C.) and Julius
Caesar (100 - 44 B.C.) both leaned considerably toward Epicureanism.

After the official approval of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine

(272 - 337) in 313 A.D., Epicureanism was repressed as essentially
irreconcilable with Christian teachings, and the school endured a long period of
obscurity and decline.

In more modern times, the French philosopher and priest Pierre Gassendi (1592
- 1655) referred to himself as an Epicurean (and attempted to revive the
doctrine), as did Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826) and the Utilitarian Jeremy
Bentham.

Epicureanism and Religion

Epicureanism emphasizes the neutrality of the gods and their non-interference

with human lives, although it did not deny the existence of gods, despite some
tendencies towards Atheism. It conceived of the gods as blissful and immortal,
yet material, beings made of atoms, inhabiting the empty spaces between worlds
in the vastness of infinite space, too far away from the earth to have any interest
in what man was doing. It rejected any possibility of an afterlife, while still
contending that one need not fear death. It can be argued that the philosophy is
atheistic on a practical level, but avoids the charge of Atheism on the theoretical
level, thus avoiding the fate of Socrates, who was tried and executed for the
Atheism of his beliefs.

The Paradox of Epicurus is the earliest known description of the "Problem of

evil" (see the section on Philosophy of Religion), and is a famous argument
against the existence of an all-powerful and providential God or gods. It can be
stated: If God is willing to prevent evil, but is not able to, then He is not
omnipotent; if He is able, but not willing, then He is malevolent; if He is both
able and willing, then why is there such a thing as evil; and if He is neither able
nor willing, then why call Him God at all?

There are interesting parallels to Buddhism, which similarly emphasizes a lack

of divine interference and has aspects of Atomism. Buddhism also resembles
Epicureanism in its temperateness, including the belief that great excesses lead
to great dissatisfaction.