[NYC Stoics Reading Group] Stoic Logic

[Cross-posted from NYC Stoics]

Impressions are one of the most important concepts in all of Stoicism to understand, since they are the grist for the mill of Stoic practice. At last month's meetup, we studied the anatomy of impressions, and learned that all of our impressions of how things are can be translated into "assertibles" (axiomata). In short: our first impressions of everything we encounter can be cashed out as asserting true or false things about the world.

This raises the question: how can a practicing Stoic discern which impressions are reliable? The answer in large part involves logic. At this meetup, we'll go over the basics of Stoic logic with preeminent scholar Susanne Bobzien's writing as our guide. You can find her chapter on logic from The Cambridge Companion to Stoic Philosophy here and download it for free.

Since this topic is difficult, I am not requiring that you read this chapter in full. Instead, I will be presenting the very basics of Stoic logic and comment on some of its practical applications, leaning heavily on this chapter.

I encourage people who are familiar with basic logic to read the chapter in full and come prepared with questions they may have. However, if you are not familiar with logic, I suggest quickly skimming the chapter and pondering what aspects of it could be useful for a practicing Stoic.