Students of Stoicism

### Details

We continue our exploration of Stoic Ethics with a deep dive into one of the most challenging and distinctive aspects of Stoic philosophy: the radical restriction of "good" to virtue alone, and the classification of everything else—health, wealth, reputation, even life itself—as "indifferent."
This session examines the heated ancient debate between Aristo's absolute indifference and orthodox Stoicism's "preferred indifferents," using passages from The Stoics Reader (pp. 113–123) and Long & Sedley's The Hellenistic Philosophers (§§ 58 and 60). These texts reveal how the Stoics struggled to maintain that only virtue is good while still providing practical guidance for daily life—a tension that remains challenging today.

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### What We'll Be Exploring:

#### The Restriction of Good to Virtue Alone

The Stoics make the radical claim that only virtue—moral excellence—is truly good, and only vice is truly bad. Everything else is "indifferent" to human flourishing.

• Why health and wealth can harm as easily as benefit
• The difference between what serves our animal nature versus our rational nature
• How rationality provides the model for human good
• The perceptibility of virtue and vice in human action

#### Preferred and Dispreferred Indifferents

While maintaining virtue as the only good, orthodox Stoics recognized that nature gives us preferences—we naturally select health over sickness.

• The objective value of things "according to nature"
• How to select without desiring
• Why consistency reveals virtue while isolated acts don't
• The role of appropriate action (kathēkon) as the material of virtue

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### Exercises:

#### At home Exercise 1: The Three-Pillar Analysis

Step 1: Identify Three Events/Situations from Your Day/Week Not necessarily "actions" you took, but situations you encountered - because sometimes the virtuous response is inaction, or acceptance.
Step 2: Physics - What Actually Happened?

• What occurred in the physical/cosmic universe?
• What was fated to happen (outside your control)?
• What is your role in the larger whole?
• How does this fit within the providential order?

Example: "My colleague received the promotion I wanted"

• Physics: A decision was made by another human exercising their judgment. This was fated from the beginning of time through the chain of causes. I am a part of a larger organization, itself part of society, itself part of the cosmic city.

Step 3: Logic - How Did I Process This?

• What was the initial impression (phantasia)?
• Did I add judgment to the bare impression?
• Did I assent, reject, or suspend judgment?
• Was my assent appropriate to reality?

Example continued:

• Initial impression: "Something unjust happened to me"
• Added judgment: "This is bad for me"
• I assented to this (wrongly)
• Reality: A dispreferred indifferent occurred; only my response determines good or bad

Step 4: Ethics - How Do I Act Now? Only AFTER understanding:

• The cosmic reality (Physics)
• My correct/incorrect judgments (Logic)

NOW I can determine the appropriate action:

• What would the sage do with correct physics and logic?
• What virtue does this situation call for?
• What is kathēkon (appropriate) to my roles and nature?

Example conclusion:

• Congratulate colleague (appropriate to role as teammate)
• Examine my own work (wisdom/self-improvement)
• Maintain good will (justice toward cosmic city)

Be prepared to discuss during the group if preferred.

#### In Class Exercise: The Consistency Test

We'll explore scenarios of people facing identical challenges—one responding with a single "virtuous" act, another with consistent character. Using the texts, particularly Seneca's Letter 120, we'll investigate:

• Can virtue exist temporarily?
• Why does consistency matter?
• How do Physics and Logic support true virtue versus its appearance?

### Required Reading

Please read the following selections before the meetup:

• The Stoics Reader, pp. 113–123
• Long & Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers, §§ 58 and 60

Access the readings: