Stoicism: core principles and philosophical foundations

Stoicism

What are the basic tenets of Stoicism and how might Stoicism be considered as a mid - point between Cynicism and Hedonism?

The basic tenets of Stoicism preached control over the passions: they thought that reason or rationality could be imposed over human emotion in order to achieve a sense of peace, and that cessation of desire was preferable to the fulfillment of desire. The modern debased meaning of "stoic" as "impervious to pain" actually derives from the Stoic tenet that (as expressed by Marcus Aurelius in his stoic Meditations) that if one removes the statement "I have been injured," then one effectively removes the injury. The Stoics believed that the correct mental response to pain, suffering, or misfortune would preclude an emotional response. Philosophy and wisdom thus become, for the Stoics, an active process of living: the exertion of mental control over the process of receiving and analyzing the data of daily existence was thus central to the Stoic definition of the practice of philosophy. The Stoics believed that living in accordance with reason would put one in harmony with all virtues, which are rationally derived from the overall pervading "logos" (something between "logic" and "conscious reasoning") of the universe itself. The Stoics believed in four virtues associated with the correct practice of life: wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance (or sophrosyne, identical with the Aristotelian conception of that virtue).

Cynicism is the earlier term for a much looser affiliation of thinkers, out of which Stoicism derived. Both Cynics and Stoics believed in philosophy as a guide to the active conduct of life, and believed that such conduct was the appropriate realm by which to judge a man's virtue: Cynicism was mainly a way of life and expression in which the philosopher subjected himself to constant public scrutiny in order to prove he had the right to his sharp criticisms of human vanity. The Cynics believed that the very essence of human society and nature was corrupt: they held up Socrates as a model of behavior, but their own name comes from the Greek word "kynos" meaning "dog." The idea was that a cynic like Diogenes essentially lived in the marketplace and barked at people much like a dog.

Hedonism is the philosophical stance occupied by the Epicureans, rejected by the Stoics. The hedonist position as outlined by Epicurus holds that, as a mode of living, pleasure should be pursued and pain should be avoided -- and Epicurus considered this to be self-evident, because newborn animals exhibit such behavior seemingly by instinct, so that there was no reason to discuss why this should be the goal of human life. The Stoics of course differ, and have a more advanced ethical system essentially: for the argument based on instinct, the Stoics would respond with the example of a small child learning to walk, who will keep standing back up despite the pain of constantly falling over. The hedonist basis for pleasure as the only human goal seems weak indeed if a pre-verbal child is able to exercise sufficient mind over matter as to become, officially, a toddler. (This example comes from the late Roman stoic Seneca.)

2. Since Christianity would be born into a world governed by Greek thought, what Stoic values seem to have influenced the development of early Christian philosophy?

Stoic cosmology seems to have certain points of overlap with Christian cosmology -- in particular, the Gospel of John with its opening statement that "in the beginning was the Word (Logos)" is a direct reference to the Stoic concept of divinity, which was pantheistic (God is all-pervading) but also conceived of as eminently reasonable (hence the invocation of the broad Greek concept of "Logos" which meant not only "word" but also "reason" or "rationality," the derivation of the modern word "logic").

The emphasis on personal control over the passions can be found in Christian sexual ethics, for example the injunction from St. Paul that "it is better to marry than to burn" with lustful passions -- obviously Christian ethics would have no more place than Stoic ethics for the Epicurean hedonist approach to sexual expression.