The Stoic Creed
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page 7
RELIGION IN LITERATURE AND LIFE
THE STOIC CREED
BY
WILLIAM L. DAVIDSON, M.A., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
AUTHOR OF "THE LOGIC OF DEFINITION"
"THEISM
AS GROUNDED IN HUMAN NATURE" "CHRISTIAN ETHICS"
ETC. ETC.
y
EDINBURGH
:
T.
& T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET
1907
page 8
Our individual natures are all parts of universal
Wherefore, the chief good is to live in
accordance with nature, which is the same thing as
in accordance with one s own nature and with the
"
nature.
universal
nature."
CHRYSIPPUS (in Diogenes Laertius).
"Be like the
headland, on which the billows dash
themselves continually ; but it stands fast, till about
its base the boiling breakers are lulled to rest."
MARCUS AURELIUS.
page 9
PREFACE
THESE chapters are a contribution towards the exposition
and just appreciation of Stoicism
defects, was a
system of lofty principles, illustrated in
the lives of many noble men.
fascination
;
which, whatever its
The subject has perennial
and there are not wanting signs that it
appeals with special attractiveness to cultured minds at
It has
the present day.
value
;
its
both speculative and practical
analysis of human nature
knowledge, no less than
its
and its theory of
ethical teaching, giving
insight into the problems of the universe and the right
mode of guiding life.
As an important stage in the
march of philosophical thought, and as a luminous
chapter in the history of natural theology, it solicits
our attention, and will repay our study.
Ample quotations are designedly made from the Stoic
writers themselves
expositions.
and from ancient Greek and Latin
Responsibility for the translation of most
of the passages
must be accepted by myself.
exception, however,
has to be made.
One
The passages
page 10
PREFACE
vi
from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius are reproduced
from the fine rendering of Dr. Rendall in his Marctis
Aurelius To Himself.
Hearty acknowledgments are made of the friendly
services of Mr. R. S. Rait, Fellow, Tutor, and Dean
of
New College, Oxford, in going over the work in
proof.
WILLIAM L. DAVIDSON.
THE UNIVERSITY, ABERDEEN,
March 1907,
page 11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MOULDING INFLUENCES,
AND LEADERS OF THE SCHOOL
SECTION A.
CHAPTER
I
THE SOCRATIC IMPULSE
I
PAGE
The post-Socratic philosophies attach themselves to Socrates
Not least the Stoic philosophy
......
.
.
Points for consideration
.
.
i
.2
2
II
Psychology, as dating from Socrates
Nature of pre-Socratic thought
1
.
The Ionic or Physical philosophers
.
.
t
.
2
.2
.3
.3
.3
....
.
2
.....
......
.5
......6
.7
....
......
Result of beginning with a material ctpx 7/
Parmenides, the Eleatic
Empedocles, and his doctrine of the Senses
Democritus, the Atomist
Anaxagoras, and NoGs
.
.
.
3
.
.
.
.
4
III
Socrates, and the study of mind
.
.
.
What his Cross-questioning meant
.
.
.
Its unsettling tendency
.
.
.
Our debt to him for a Method
.
6
.
What doctrines we get from Socrates
Ethical doctrines
Religious doctrines God and Immortality
How he stimulated to philosophy
.
8
9
.
.
.
.
.10
.10
page 16
TABLE OF CONTENTS
xii
...
II
The Stoics debt to Heracleitus
Their primitive substance
Their cosmogony described
Seminal reason
The world how evolved
"
"
The heavenly bodies
.
.
.
.
.
....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Man, as consubstantial with the divine
^ His reason (\6yos, rb Tjye/jioviKov)
NThe Anima Mundi
PAGE
.
-,
.
.
.
.
-87
-87
.88
.88
.88
.89
.89
.89
.90
The doctrine of Cycles
91
Conflagration and Regeneration
N Universal Law, Destiny, and Providence
.92
"
"
:
.
.
III
Points of interest for moderns in this Cosmic theory
.
The World perfect
.
.
....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
How Cleanthes proves it
.
.
.
.
^Yhe Deity material
Materiality of the Soul
Eschatology
Difficulties about the reabsorption of the soul
.
.
The duration of the soul
.
92
-93
-93
-94
-95
-95
.96
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
96
.
.
.
.96
.
-97
Absorption in relation to earthly life
Recollection and previous states of existence
.
Seneca and Immortality
.
.
.
.
97
IV
The Stoic Cosmology not fully satisfactory
99
v Jews of the relation of supreme Mind and Matter
99
-99
(1) Each eternal and independent
100
the other
(2) Each eternal, but one dependent on
the other created 101
(3) One alone eternal and independent and
102
(4) One sole existence, eternal and self-contained
Each of these views considered
103
.
.
.
.
.
.....
...
.....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
\he Stoic view
.103
Disparity between physics and ethics of Stoics
^Conception of evil
Slavery
Progress and recurrent cycles
.
Other physical speculations deferred
.
.
.
....
.
.
103
-103
.104
.104
104
page 17
TABLE OF CONTENTS
xiii
CHAPTER VI
THE EPICUREAN CONTRAST
PACK
Resemblance between Stoicism and Epicureanism
.
Sources of our knowledge of Epicureanism
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.107
.
.
.
.
.
Lucretius s De Rerum NaturA
"
Epicurean
.
.
summaries" (Ktptcu 5o cu)
Strict adherence to the master s teaching
Personal devotion to the master
Outward tokens of
.
.
105
-105
.106
....
....
....
.
Is Lucretius a reliable authority ?
His characteristics
.
106
107
108
108
.108
II
.....
......
Atomic Theory explanatory of the World
Atoms in motion and the void
Nature of the atoms
How they move
:
.
their power of declination
Concourse of atoms, fortuitous
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
No interference of the gods with nature
Apparent design, how explained
Importance of Atomic Theory for moderns
.
.
109
109
109
.no
.no
.in
.112
1
13
1
14
III
Atoms as explanatory of Life and Mind
The soul or mind material
Whence constructed
.
.
.
Its difference from grosser matter
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Distinction between animus or mens and anima
Sensation nature of
Visual perception explained
Sensation as criterion of truth
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.114
.
1
14
.114
.115
TI 5
.116
.117-
.
.
.
TI 7
.
.
.
!I 7
.
.
.
.
Absolute scepticism suicidal
.
May the senses be refuted ?
How can doctrine of Atoms be tested by Sensation
.
Explanation of pleasure and pain
Will, and its freedom
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.117
.118
.118
IV
Epicurus s debt to Democritus
.
Points of difference between the two
.119
.119
page 18
xiv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Interest of Democritus scientific, that of Epicurus religious
1
Epicurean special teaching
Criticism of Democritus s velocity of atoms
Democritus denied free will
Structure of the soul to Democritus and to Epicurus
.
,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
PACK
120
.120
.120
.121
.121
V
.
Contrast of Epicurean cosmogony to Stoic
.
.
Fortuitous clash of atoms versus teleology
Materialism unable to account for Life and Consciousness
.
Surmounted in Epicureanism by tacit assumption
Epicurean Criterion of Truth
Epicurean doctrine of free will
SECTION C
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.121
.122
.
123
.124
.124
.125
MORALITY AND RELIGION
CHAPTER VII
PREDECESSORS OF THE STOICS IN ETHICS
I
Plato little effective with Stoics, and why
Certain Platonic doctrines taken over
126
.
.
.
.
.
127
Aristotle little effective also in Ethics, and why
.
.
129
Voluntarism versus intellectualism
.
.130
.
.
.
.
.
II
k The Cynic influence
.
.
.
.
J Zeno and Crates
Antisthenes in Symposium of Xenophon
.
Cynic s Ideal Sage
.
.
.
.
.
.130
.
.
131
.
.
131
.
.
.
.
.132
.
.
.
.
.
......
Dangers of self-sufficiency
Not escaped by the Cynics
y
/ The doctrine at its best
130
.
.
.
v/The Stoics indebted to it
Life in accordance with nature the Cynic view
.
.
.
.
132
133-
134
134
.
Savages and the lower animals, the types
.
.
.
The Stoic contrast, with results
.
.
.135
.
Cynics and the Allegorical method
Followed by the Stoics
How the Stoics differed from the Cynics
Summary by Sir A. Grant
.
134
136
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.136
.
.
.
.
.
.
137
.
137
page 19
TABLE OF CONTENTS
xv
111
Heracleitus, as influencing Stoic ethics
His doctrine of the Logos
Its ethical bearings
Stoicism and Matthew Arnold
.
138
.
.
.
.
.
.
.138
.
.
.
.
.
139
.
.
.
.
.
139
CHAPTER VIII
ETHICS: EXPOSITION
//
I
......
.....
.....
.....
.....
Man a compound being, according to Stoics
Marcus Aurelius s view
Body, in relation to soul
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
140
.
140
.
.141
.
.142
.
.
142
.
.
142
Inconsistent Stoic positions
Man as reason (rd rjyefj.oviK6v)
Nature of the soul, according to later Stoicism
what?
Living agreeably to nature"
In the view of Cleanthes
"
.
142
142
As expressed by Epictetus
143
In the view of Chrysippus
The views complementary of each other
.
143
144
.
.
II
Wherein happiness consists
.
.
Control, even eradicate, the desires
Life worth living, according to the Stoic
.
144
.
.
.
.
.
145
.
.
.
146
Chrysippus and Epictetus
.
.
.
.
.146
Where difficulty lies
.
.
.
.
.
.
147
PLEASURE, APATHY, DESIRE
....
......
....
....
Nothing external can really affect us
Pleasure and pain in the Stoics view
Aurelius and Cleanthes
.
.
.
.
Passionlessness or Apathy (airddfta)
Characteristics of the Wise Man
Suicide
when allowable
Doctrine of "the open door
.....
.
"
.
.
.
147
147
148
149
149
I
5I
151
VIRTUE AND HAPPINESS
Relation between the two
.
.
.
.
Virtue defined
.
,
.
.
.
.
J
.
52
152
page 20
TABLE OF CONTENTS
xvi
Its inwardness
Kinds of Duty
.
"
.
.
the suitable
.
and
"
"
Virtue indivisible and insusceptible of degrees
So with vice all sins are equal
:
.
.
the wise and
Only two classes of men
Human nature depraved
Length of days does not add to happiness
"
.
.
.
.
.
Compare with teaching of Spinoza
Virtue its own reward
Vice its own punishment
"
the foolish
.
156
.156
.
.
.
157
.
.
.158
icjo.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
154
"
.
.
.
154
155
.
"
"
.153
.
.
the right
Virtue s worth independent of our appreciation of it
59
.
.
159
EPICUREAN HEDONISM
.....
.....
.....
Pleasure as summum bonum abhorrent to Stoics
The term pleasure ambiguous
Two meanings even of agreeable sensation
.
The virtuous happy under pain
Virtue not valued for the pleasure it brings
Stoic psychology of pleasure
Hedonism incompatible with altruism and sympathy
.
If pleasure the chief good, wisdom nugatory
.
.160
.
160
.160
.
161
161
.
.
.
.
162
.
.
162
.
.
162
161
ENTHUSIASM OF HUMANITY
Individual s good bound up with that of community
Relation between self-interest and altruism
What is the community ?
......
.....
......
......
....
....
.....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.163
.164
Humanity an organism
Condemnation of Slavery
Consequences of Cosmopolitanism on earlier teaching
.
Forgiveness of injuries
Function of punishment
No one willingly injures another
The Stoic neither bigot nor hermit
His regard for social duties
165
165
166
166
167
167
167
168
MORAL PROGRESS
Virtue may be taught
Progress in the moral life
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Stoics divided as to whether virtue may be lost
.
Parallel in Christian theology
,
.
.
t
.170
.170
.170
.
171
-
page 21
TABLE OF CONTENTS
xvii
PREFERENCE AND AVOIDANCE
PAGE
"
Doctrine of
"
indifferent things
Some things to be "preferred
Some things to be "avoided"
"
revised
.
to others
.
.
Effect on character, determines
.
171
.
172
.
172
.172
.
.
.
This the sphere of duty as the fitting- (KaBrJKOv)
.
173
A concession to everyday morality
.
173
.
CHAPTER IX
ETHICS: SPECIAL POINTS
I
how interpreted
Living agreeably to nature
Influence of doctrine on modern ethical systems
"
"
.
174
.
.176
II
The Stoic doctrine of Will
.
.
.
To be taken in connexion with psychology of desire
.
.176
.
.
177
III
Virtue as happiness
.178
.
Protest against moral materialism
.
.
179
.
IV
.....
Value of Stoic Cosmopolitanism
.
Morality essentially social
Contrast with Epicureanism
Influence on St. Paul and Christianity
Carried by Aurelius into Legislation
.
.
.
....
....
.
.
.
180
180
.180
......
180
181
V
The dignity of man
Self-respect
Kindness to the lower animals
.
.
.
.
....
....
.
.
Connexion between ethics and religion
Even human laws echo the divine
Influence of Stoicism on Roman Jurisprudence
.
VI
Regenerative power of a virtuous life
Moral heroes, of the past
.
6
.
.
.
.
182
182
183
.
.
183
.
.
184
.
.184
184
184
page 23
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Alien to man and a hindrance
.
.
Correct view
.
.
.
.
xix
PAGE
199
.
.
1
99
200
200
.
201
.
Slovenly neglect of the body condemned by Stoics
The reasons given by Epictetus
Death as a thing indifferent
Suicide allowed
Shows an inadequate notion of both God and man
....
.
.
"
"
.
Counselled infanticide
.
202
.
202
.
203
.
IV
The Stoics unjust to Epicurean Hedonism
Wrong view of Pleasure and Pain
.
203
.
.
.....
.....
Laid stress on the lower pleasures
Epicurus s view of pleasure
Epicurus s doctrine of desire
Hedonism and noble aspirations
-
203
204
204
205
206
.
208
.
208
.
.
.
.
.
.
CHAPTER XI
THEOLOGY AND RELIGION
Metaphysics of ethics
Can there be ethics without metaphysics ?
.
.
.
I
THE WORLD ONE AND PERFECT
This the view sub specie ceternitatis
No such thing as evil or as sin
.
.
.
.
.
.210
.210
.
PROVIDENCE OPTIMISM
The course of the world teleologically determined
Providence both universal and special
:
Stoical optimism the result
.
.
.
.
.
Nevertheless, the Stoic sometimes pessimistic
Cheerful acquiescence in the World-Order
Significance for the present day
.
IS
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.211
.211
.212
.212
.213
-213
GOD PERSONAL OR IMPERSONAL?
.
.214
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Difficulty in determining
.
.
.
.
.
.
Discrepancy between Stoic Physics and Ethics here
Epictetus almost monotheist
Aurelius pantheistic
Deity both all-pervasive essence and Moral
214
215
215
.216