Stoic ethics centers on virtue as the ultimate good, emphasizing reason and living in harmony with nature. The Stoics categorize moral values into good, bad, and indifferent, with only virtue truly mattering for happiness and well-being.

The concept of the Stoic sage serves as an ideal to aspire to, embodying perfect virtue and reason. Stoicism's influence extends to Christianity, modern psychotherapy, and Western moral philosophy, shaping ethical thinking for centuries.

Central Tenets of Stoic Ethics

Central tenets of Stoic ethics

• Virtue is the only true good
  • Sufficient for happiness and well-being
  • External things (wealth, health, reputation) are ultimately indifferent
• Reason is the key to virtue and living well
  • Understand the natural order of the universe
  • Control emotions and desires
• Living in accordance with nature is the goal
  • Nature refers to the rational structure of the universe
  • Accept one's fate and fulfill one's role in the cosmic order
  • Cultivate the four cardinal virtues (wisdom, justice, courage, self-control)

Classification of moral values

• Stoics divide things into three categories:
  • Good: virtue and what participates in virtue
  • Bad: vice and what participates in vice
  • Indifferent: everything else (health, wealth, reputation)
• Only virtue is truly good and only vice is truly bad
  • External things are indifferent because they do not affect one's character or moral worth
• Indifferent things can be preferred or dispreferred
  • Preferred indifferents (life, health, pleasure, beauty, strength, wealth, good reputation, noble birth)
  • Dispreferred indifferents (death, disease, pain, ugliness, weakness, poverty, low reputation, ignoble birth)
• Moral decision-making should prioritize virtue over external things
  • Choose the virtuous course of action, even if it leads to dispreferred indifferents (poverty, ill health)

Concept of the Stoic sage

• The sage is the ideal Stoic who perfectly embodies virtue and reason
  • Completely free from passions and desires
  • Accepts their fate and lives in perfect harmony with nature
• Serves as a model for all Stoics to aspire to
  • Emulate the sage's virtuous character and rational decision-making
  • Demonstrates that it is possible to achieve perfect virtue and happiness
• The sage is exceedingly rare, perhaps even hypothetical
  • Becoming a sage is extremely difficult
  • Represents an ideal to guide one's actions, not a realistic goal

Influence of Stoicism on culture

• Christianity adopted many Stoic ethical concepts
  • Emphasis on virtue, self-control, and acceptance of fate
  • Idea of a divine plan and the importance of fulfilling one's role in it
  • Distinction between things in one's control (thoughts, actions) and things outside one's control (external events)
• Modern psychotherapy (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy) draws on Stoic principles
  • Focus on changing thoughts and beliefs to alter emotions and behavior
  • Emphasis on accepting what one cannot change and focusing on what is within one's control
  • Use techniques (negative visualization, self-monitoring) to develop resilience and emotional regulation
• Lasting impact on Western moral philosophy
  • Influenced thinkers (Spinoza, Kant, Nietzsche)
  • Stoic ideas continue to be studied and applied in contemporary ethical debates