Chapters 1 - 6 Flashcards
Who said that Socrates was “the first to call philosophy down from the heavens and set her in the cities of men and bring her also into their homes and compel her to ask questions about life and morality and things good and evil”?
Cicero
Who founded the Stoic school?
Zeno of Citium
Antisthenes (the Cynic) said “pay attention to your enemies…
…for they are the first to discover your mistakes.”
Stoic ethics are __________ ethics.
Eudaimonistic
What is eudaimonism about?
How to live well - to flourish
What was the primary ethical goal of the Greek Stoics?
The attainment of virtue
What was the second goal added by the Roman Stoics?
The attainment of tranquility
What was the Stoic conception of tranquility?
A psychological state marked by the absence of negative emotions and the presence of positive emotions
In “On the Happy Life,” how did Seneca say we should pursue tranquility?
Use our reasoning ability to drive away all that excites or frightens us
Marcus Aurelius said “the art of living…
…is more like wrestling than dancing.”
What is hedonic adaptation?
Becoming used to, or adapting to, the things which made us happy when we first got them, causing us to seek new things to make us happy
What is the purpose of negative visualisation?
To forestall, obstruct, and reverse hedonic adaptation
The easiest way to be happy is….
…to want the things we already have
What should we take as objects of negative visualisation?
Our possessions, friends, and even our own lives
What is projective visualisation?
Imagining that you are a third party observer to, instead of a participant in, an event in order to reduce your emotional response to it and the depth of its disturbance of your tranquility
How can you reduce the occurrence of “if only…” thoughts after a friend has died?
Negative visualisation during their life can make you appreciate the time you have and do the things you would otherwise regret not doing
As well as helping us appreciate the world, negative visualisation is also…
…contemplation of the impermanence of the world
Seneca said we must be “the user….
….but not the slave of the gifts of fortune”
Recognising that everytime we do something could be the last time we ever do it…
…invests the experience with a significance and intensity that would otherwise be absent
Epictetus said your primary desire should be…
…to not have desires you cannot fulfill
What is Epictetus’ dichotomy of control?
Some things are completely up to us, and some things are not. We should not want things which are not completely up to us
What is the significance of Epictetus’ dichotomy of control?
Making your happiness dependent on things which are not completely up to you is irrational
What is the trichotomy of control?
That some things are wholly within our control, some things partially within our control, and some things wholly outwith our control
Why kind of triage should a Stoic perform?
To decide where in the trichotomy of control something falls, and to deal with it accordingly
How should we deal with things over which we have some but not complete control?
Have internal goals related to them, over which we do have complete control
Marcus Aurelius said “Nothing is worth…
…doing pointlessly”
We should be fatalistic with respect to the…
…past and present moment, because they cannot be changed
Why should we be fatalistic with respect to the present moment?
To allow ourselves to embrace it and avoid wasting it in dissatisfaction
What is a more general Stoic principal that could be used to explain why we should be fatalistic with respect to the past and present?
The dichotomy of control; the past and present instant are beyond our control, so it would be irrational to worry about them
How is fatalism with respect to the past and present connected to negative visualisation?
It is the converse; negative visualisation is contemplating how our life could be worse, while non-future fatalism is a refusal to contemplate how it could be better
Why do the meditations of fatalism and negative visualisation not cause us to be complacent and unambitious?
Stoicism also teaches to strive for perfection of virtue, to carry out social duties, to be a better person
