September 16, 2026
- Stoicism
- Marcus Aurelius Meditations
- Providence or atoms? (fate or material)
- Stoics say that there is a plan, purpose, rational order, destiny to the world,
not just an accidental alignment of atoms
- World is rational, governed by Zeus (personification of reason), by logos
(reason, language, rationality)
- It is impious to be disgruntled
- Cause and effect
- Superiors and inferiors in life
- What is the telos (aim) of life for humans?
- Eudaimonia
- Happiness, flourishing life
- Lead your life to the fullest by living in accordance with nature
- In agreement with Zeus/logos, which is the rational plan of the
world
- Embrace destiny
- Develop virtue (development of reason) to sync mind with Zeus (reason/logos)
- To be reasonable and logical, you have to be virtuous
- You need virtue to be happy (necessary and sufficient)
- You only need virtue for eudaimonia
- No passions if you have virtue
- Ie. fear, revenge, jealousy are all irrational, go against reason
- If you are virtuous you wouldn’t need to/feel any of thus
- If you have irrational passion then you are not letting destiny be fulfilled
and are judging the plan
- Being a virtuous person will give you a good life
- The stoic life
- Realize/understand you have little control over the world/what happens
- Restrict your desires to what you can control
- Realize/understand you can control your reaction and response to events
- View pain and misfortune differently (not a bad thing)
- Pleasure is not good, pain is not bad. Virtue is the only good thing that can produce
eudaimonia
- Must cultivate courageous acceptance
- Go along with whatever life has planned for you, not struggling/trying to change
life's plan
- Your happiness is entirely up to you because it depends on your virtue
- Stoicism
- Marcus Aurelius Meditations
- Providence or atoms? (fate or material)
- Stoics say that there is a plan, purpose, rational order, destiny to the world,
not just an accidental alignment of atoms
- World is rational, governed by Zeus (personification of reason), by logos
(reason, language, rationality)
- It is impious to be disgruntled
- Cause and effect
- Superiors and inferiors in life
- What is the telos (aim) of life for humans?
- Eudaimonia
- Happiness, flourishing life
- Lead your life to the fullest by living in accordance with nature
- In agreement with Zeus/logos, which is the rational plan of the
world
- Embrace destiny
- Develop virtue (development of reason) to sync mind with Zeus (reason/logos)
- To be reasonable and logical, you have to be virtuous
- You need virtue to be happy (necessary and sufficient)
- You only need virtue for eudaimonia
- No passions if you have virtue
- Ie. fear, revenge, jealousy are all irrational, go against reason
- If you are virtuous you wouldn’t need to/feel any of thus
- If you have irrational passion then you are not letting destiny be fulfilled
and are judging the plan
- Being a virtuous person will give you a good life
- The stoic life
- Realize/understand you have little control over the world/what happens
- Restrict your desires to what you can control
- Realize/understand you can control your reaction and response to events
- View pain and misfortune differently (not a bad thing)
- Pleasure is not good, pain is not bad. Virtue is the only good thing that can produce
eudaimonia
- Must cultivate courageous acceptance
- Go along with whatever life has planned for you, not struggling/trying to change
life's plan
- Your happiness is entirely up to you because it depends on your virtue
