What is philosophy? How does it differ from science, religion, and other modes of human discourse? This course traces the origins of philosophy in the Western tradition in the thinkers of Ancient Greece. We begin with the Presocratic natural philosophers who were active in Ionia in the 6th century BCE and are also credited with being the first scientists. Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximines made bold proposals about the ultimate constituents of reality, while Heraclitus insisted that there is an underlying order to the changing world. Parmenides of Elea formulated a powerful objection to all these proposals, while later Greek theorists (such as Anaxagoras and the atomist Democritus) attempted to answer that objection. In fifth-century Athens, Socrates insisted on the importance of the fundamental ethical question—“How shall I live?”—and his pupil, Plato, and Plato’s pupil, Aristotle, developed elaborate philosophical systems to explain the nature of reality, knowledge, and human happiness. After the death of Aristotle, in the Hellenistic period, Epicureans and Stoics developed and transformed that earlier tradition. We will study the major doctrines of all these thinkers. Part I will cover Plato and his predecessors. Part II will cover Aristotle and his successors.
A Good Flow of Life
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From the course by University of Pennsylvania
Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors
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From the lesson
Stoicism
A providential god is at work in every detail of the cosmos, where everything happens by fate. Our goal in life is to accommodate ourselves to this divine nature by giving up our concern for (but not our pursuit of) worldly objectives.
Meet the Instructors
Susan Sauvé MeyerProfessor
Department of Philosophy
[MUSIC]
Let's recall what Diogenes Laertius tells us about the Stoic telos.
"The goal of life is to live consistently with nature.
That is, according to one's own nature and that of the universe, doing nothing which
is forbidden by the common law, which is right reason, penetrating all things,
which is the same as Zeus, who is the leader of the administration of things.
And this itself is the virtue of the happy person.
And a smooth flow of life, whenever all things are done according to the harmony
of the daimon in each of us with the will of the administrator of the universe."
So far we've seen what's involved in living according to our own nature.
That amounts basically to living virtuously by using our reason to
make correct decisions about what to do.
Now our task is to see what's involved in living according to
the nature of the universe.
Here it will be helpful to make a distinction between the appropriate, or
kathekon, action the virtuous person performs and
the objective or goal of that action.
For example, health and safety are goals we naturally pursue in our actions.
Even though the virtuous person will sometimes risk her health or
safety rather than promote it.
For example, if courage requires standing her ground in face of the enemy she
will typically perform actions that have health and safety as their goal.
For example, it is appropriate kathekon to step out of the path of an oncoming
bus for this saves us from injury or death, and it is appropriate to brush and
floss your teeth daily, for this promotes dental health.
Very roughly we live in agreement with our own rational nature by
performing the actions that are appropriate.
We live in agreement with the nature of the universe by having
the appropriate attitude to the goals or objectives of those actions.
The first kind of agreement we've already discussed; when you decide correctly
that taking the healthy course of action is appropriate, that is for example you
brush and floss your teeth rather than neglecting them, you are reasoning well.
You are deciding to do what God would agree is the right thing for you to do.
So this is in a way already to be in agreement with divine reason.
But knowing the right thing for
you to do does not exhaust the scope of divine reason.
Recall that this reason arranges every detail of the universe, including whether
your regime of dental hygiene will succeed in keeping your teeth healthy and
intact throughout your life.
And more generally, whether the various actions you quite properly take to
promote your life and your health, including running from attacking dogs and
stepping out of the path of oncoming buses, whether these will be successful
in realizing their goals.
More generally the divine reason that structures the universe determines
whether you will get the objectives that you aim at in your actions.
Whether you will live to a healthy old age with all your teeth intact, or whether
you will contract a terrible disease or injury that will cut short your life.
Whether you will have enough money to live comfortably,
or whether you will fall into poverty.
Whether your children will prosper, or whether they will die in infancy.
While the stoic God is in control of all these details, our
control is much more limited.
Within our sphere of influence is only what we do.
Whether we take care of our teeth or take care of our children.
It is out of control whether, in spite of our best efforts, our
actions might still fail to achieve their objectives.
With this gap between the scope of human and divine reason in mind, we can
identify an additional dimension in which you as a rational human agent
can be in harmony with the will of the administrator of the universe.
Suppose you've been conscientious in taking care of your health, but
nonetheless you contract a debilitating degenerative disease.
Or suppose you've nurtured your children carefully, but they die in an epidemic.
What attitude should you take to these outcomes of your endeavors?
You aimed at health, but ended up with disease.
You organized your life around caring for your children,
but you end up bereft and childless.
There are two different attitudes you can take here.
One is to be disappointed, upset, aggrieved.
The other is to say something like I guess that was not meant to be.
That's not what God had in store for me.
The stoic position is that you should take the second route.
If you recognize these failures to achieve what you aimed at as elements in
the divine plan for the universe as part of the larger nature of things, and
you accept them without complaint or distress, then you are keeping your
will in harmony with that of the divine reason that governs the universe.
You are not demanding or
expecting more than what the nature of the universe is granting you.
You are not complaining about the way it is managing the affairs of the world.
You are completely in sync with what the universe is giving you, and
you are acknowledging it as part of the wise management of the cosmos.
Your life is flowing smoothly, and
that you are never getting less than you expect,
even if you do fail to get what you aimed at in your actions.
As the Roman stoic Epictetus advises us,
"seek not to have things turn out as you wish, but rather wish for
everything to happen as it does, and then your life will flow smoothly".
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