Many books and media discuss Stoicism, its tenets, its historical advocates in ancient Greece and Rome, its ethical components, its life advice. In the history of Stoicism there is no longer any controversy about meaning. Thinkers like Montaigne extended and adapted Stoic ideas to contemporary circumstances, to varying degrees of success. The Stoic attitude or point of view towards the pursuit of eudemonia not as hedonic pleasure but as methods of reconciliation towards a world of imperfection, disappointment, and suffering, is well understood and often recommended. The author acknowledges the well-known centurie-long identification of Stoic methods with current thought:
“While these beliefs about daily life rested on a foundation of physical and metaphysical theory, the attraction of Stoicism was, and is, in the therapeutic element of its exercises: cognitive behavioural therapy, or Buddhism, for guys in togas.”
With this consenssus, therefore, it is startling, perhaps, to see one commentator at Psyche declare that:
“Despite the benefits of Stoic spiritual exercise, you should not become a stoic. Stoic exercises, and the wise sayings that can be so appealing in moments of trouble, conceal a pernicious philosophy. Stoicism may seem a solution to many of our individual problems, but a society that is run by stoics, or filled with stoics, is a worse society for us to live in. While the stoic individual may feel less pain, that is because they have become dulled to, and accept, the injustices of the world.”
A few important points are to be made:
1. The first fallacy of this comment is the assumption that an adherent of a philosophy will automatically or intentionally convince others to blindly – if not intelligently – practice that philosophy. This is the obverse of omnism, the common view that most religions, philosophies, and psychologies already contain the same core of tenets simply expressed according to culture, society, and historical and psychological circumstances of the expressed tenet.
2. A subtle (or not so subtle) shift is made from an individual studying Stoic ideas to the prospect of “a society that is run by stoics.” This assumes that everyone will begin following stoic ideas blindly and take over society and run it! So if you read about hermits suddenly everyone will want to become a hermit? or learning about a celib will turn everyone celibate? And soon the whole of society will be run or overrun by hermits? Or celibates? Nonsense. Human nature doen’t work that way.
What needs to be done in reflecting upon philosophies and their merits in applying them is to recognize the many circumstances that surround our circumstances. That philosophies are applied only by degrees, by situations, by appropriate strengths they bring or backd away from or modified when the proponent was speaking of another time, another era, another culture, other material and social conditions. All philosophies arise from this ground and are most fully understood when presented in this context.Ethics is always a measure of successful transference of an idea, but even ethics is a cultural and social product of evolution that requires reason and understanding to reconcile with the winds of one’s era.
3. That the goal of the Stoic is the diminution of pain does not mean that the Stoic is indifferent to the suffering of others. But who can propose a remedy who has not used it to cure themselves? Are we to put off assuaging pain in our personal lives because pain and suffering continue in the society around us? Rather, we must clearly and unflinchingly consider the causes of pain and suffering and build methods of addressing them. In this the usual Stoic is competent because not an abstract philosopher but ond who has actually suffered pain. Having suffered is sufficient for asking the right questions and pursuing the most helpful courses or exercises. This is both a personal quest and a collective social one. The awareness of the intelligent observer can take in both the indivual and social demands around us. No one can afford to be indifferent to the suffering of others, nor to postpone addressing their own suffering.
URL:”Don’t Be Stoic” https://psyche.co/ideas/dont-be-stoic-roman-stoicisms-origins-show-its-perniciousness