or
Apathy on the Porch as
the Good Life
ἀνέχου καὶ ἀπέχου

“All philosophy lies in two words,
“Bear and Forebear”
Stoicism

Eudaimonistic ethical system in the Socratic
tradition
Arose in dialogue with Cynicism,
Epicureanism, Platonism, and Aristotelianism
Popular and influential
Epictetus
Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus
Chrysippus
Zeno
Figures in Stoicism

Eudaimonia

What is the Good Life?
What is the end (telos) of human existence?
What is happiness?
"eu" ("good") and "daimon" ("spirit")
“flourishing” “blessedness”
The eudaimon life is…

Aristotle
• A well ordered life as a
whole
Epicureanism
• Ataraxia
• ("tranquility")
• freedom from distress
and worry
Stoicism
• Ataraxia and apatheia
• (a- "without"
and pathos "suffering"
or "passion")
• equanimity
What is good?

Stoicism’s simplified list:
 Fame
 Wealth
 Power
 Beauty
 Life
 Pleasure
 etc.
Only
Virtue
is good.
What is evil?

Stoicism’s simplified list:
 Notoriety
 Poverty
 Weakness
 Ugliness
 Death
 Pain
 etc.
Only
Vice
is evil.
What is indifferent?
Everything else

Anything else, whether preferred or rejected,
appropriate or inappropriate,
cannot affect true eudaimonia, true happiness.
Fame
Wealth
Power
Beauty
Life
Pleasure
or
or
or
or
or
or
Notoriety
Poverty
Weakness
Ugliness
Death
Pain
Stoic Assumptions

Physics
• Dynamic
materialism and
determinism
• Rational element
within nature and
within humanity
Logic
• All knowledge is
based on sense
impressions
• Reason can abstract
hidden causes
(Socratic method)
Ethics
• Rational, social
animals
• Moral character
grows with reason
(appropriation)
ἀνέχου καὶ ἀπέχου

“There are things which are within our power, and
there are things which are beyond our power. Within
our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in
one word, whatever affairs are our own.
“Beyond our power are body, property, reputation,
office, and, in one word,
whatever are not properly our own affairs.”
Epictetus
“Now, the things within our power are by
nature free, unrestricted, unhindered; but those
beyond our power are weak, dependent,
restricted, alien.
…if you attribute freedom to things by nature
dependent, you will be hindered, you will
lament, you will be disturbed, you will find fault
both with gods and men…”
“But if you take for your own only that which
is your own, and view what belongs to others
just as it really is, then no one will ever compel
you, no one will restrict you, you will find fault
with no one, you will accuse no one, you will do
nothing against your will;
no one will hurt you, you will not have an
enemy, nor will you suffer any harm.”
Epictetus, The Handbook
Covey’s virtue ethic

Stoic virtue ethic

What is meant by
“passion”?

What we call “emotions”?
“Animal instincts”?
Pleasure or pain itself?
Passions
Greek: pathê; Latin: perturbationes.

 Not sensations
 Pleasure
 Pain
 Not pre-emotions (propatheia)
 Eros
 Not good feelings (eupatheia)
 joy (chara)
 caution (eulabeia)
 wish (boulêsis)
Passions are false judgments

Delight
Lust
(present)
(future)
Four Main
Passions
Distress
Fear
(present)
(future)
Passions pt.1

Delight (Greek: hêdonê; Latin: laetitia.)
•disorder arising from presence of [an
apparent] good; exuberant transport at
having secured some coveted object
Distress (Greek: lupê. Latin: aegritudo.)
•disorder originating in distress at present evil
Passions pt.2

Lust (Greek: epithumia; Latin: libido.)
• belief of prospective good and the subject of
this thinks it advantageous to possess it at
once upon the spot.
Fear (Greek: phobos; Latin: metus.)
• a disorder arising from expectation of evil
Comparisons

Passions
 Perturbation of
character (Zeno)
 Distorts sense of reality
Neuroses
 Distortion of
personality (Hine, 1983)
 Distorts sense of reality
Passions replaced by good
states

Joy instead of
Delight
Wish instead of Lust
(future)
(present)
Three Good
States
…(nothing)…
instead of Distress
Caution instead of
Fear
(present)
(future)
How?
The Three Disciplines
of Epictetus

Discipline of Desire
• Study of
philosophy, science,
and theology
• “View from above”
• Amor fati
Discipline of Assent
• Uncover implicit
value judgments
• Meditation on
misfortune
• Stoic mindfulness
(prosochê)
Discipline of Action
• Cultivation of
cardinal virtues
• Reserve clause (God
willing)
• Oikeiôsis and
cosmopolitanism
Cognitive Behavioral
and Rational Emotive
Therapies

Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck explicitly drew on Stoic sources in
devising a therapeutic school apart from psychodynamic and
behavioral traditions.
Assumptions

 Cognitive therapy assumes that maladaptive behaviors
and disturbed mood or emotions are the result of
inappropriate or irrational thinking patterns,
called automatic thoughts.
 Therapy may consist of testing the assumptions which
one makes and identifying how certain of one's usually
unquestioned thoughts are distorted, unrealistic and
unhelpful. Once those thoughts have been challenged,
one's feelings about the subject matter of those thoughts
are more easily subject to change.
Common Cognitive
Biases

 Overgeneralization




Mental Filter
Magnification and Minimization
All-or-Nothing Thinking
Disqualifying the Positive
 Jumping to Conclusions
 Labeling
 Mind Reading
 Fortune Telling
 Emotional Reasoning
 Shoulding Yourself, Shoulding Others
 Personalization and Blame
Cognitive Restructuring

Four steps:
 Identification of problematic cognitions known as "automatic thoughts" (ATs)
which are dysfunctional or negative views of the self, world, or future
 Identification of the cognitive distortions in the ATs
 Rational disputation of ATs with the Socratic method.
 Development of a rational rebuttal to the ATs
Six types of automatic thoughts:






Self-evaluated thoughts
Thoughts about the evaluations of others
Evaluative thoughts about the other person with whom they are interacting
Thoughts about coping strategies and behavioral plans
Thoughts of avoidance
Any other thoughts that were not categorized
Live Like a Stoic Week

http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday
Preparation

 Download Handbook
 Fill out surveys:




“Satisfaction with Life”
“Flourishing”
“Positive and Negative Emotions”
Stoic Attitudes and Behaviors
Stoic Week

 Morning Meditation
 Stoic Mindfulness throughout day
 Evening Meditation
 Blog about experiences
End of week

 Fill out surveys again:




“Satisfaction with Life”
“Flourishing”
“Positive and Negative Emotions”
“Stoic Attitudes and Behaviors”
 Meet to discuss experience with others
Resources

 Philosophy for Life
http://philosophyforlife.org
 Stoicism Today
http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday
 Philosophy of CBT
http://philosophy-of-cbt.com