Before we get into this week's topic, I just want to make it clear that I am not a stoic. In fact, something about stoicism really gives me the ick. Sorry to any of you stoics that may be reading, but that's just me. Now that disclaimer is out of the way, let's get into the field of Virtue Ethics and our topic for this week.
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic Philosophy (323-31BC) founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the 3rd century BC. It is a school of though that relies on logic to ascertain that "virtue is the only good" and that life should be spent practicing virtue and living in accordance with nature. Many Stoics – such as Seneca and Epictetus – emphasised that in order to live a virtuous life, one must develop self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions, such as anger, envy, and jealousy. Epictetus asserted that these emotions result from lapses in judgement that determine how we react to things. He called the 'will' or 'volition' with which we rationally respond to impressions prohairesis and said that we may use this to choose how we react to things.
One of the problems I (and many others) have with Stoicism is that it is impossible to detach from our emotional reactions and remain rational. The Stoics seem to have viewed emotions as something that we should learn to have control over, and although I agree that we should practice and modulate our emotional reactions and to be more rational beings, I think this line of thinking perpetuates the modern narrative of 'toughness' and only encourages a suppression of emotion, which isn't completely possible (or helpful, as modern psychologists point out) at the end of the day. It makes me sad for this reason that Stoicism has made a comeback in the tech and business worlds, particularly amongst men. Perhaps it has done so because men, in the West at least, are often fed a narrative that 'manliness' does not involve showing emotion or being vulnerable. Thankfully, this message is becoming communicated less often today, as psychologists, parents, and young people realise the toxicity of these stereotypes, but I still see how they affect men like my brother and my dad.
There are certainly things that we can learn from the Stoics: do not concern yourself with things out of your control, accept the struggle of hard work rather than chase hedonism, a good life is a virtuous one etc. But, something about it just doesn't sit right with me.
Perhaps there is a happy middle ground somewhere in between the Buddhists, the Stoics, and the Epicureans (who we will touch on next week) that might provide us a guide with which we may live our lives more virtuously. If you have any insights, feel free to reply to this email.
