Analysis Of The Ideas Underpinning Stoicism

Stoicism is a belief system that is founded upon virtue is the only thing Good in itself and is a means to an Ultimate End; that happiness comes from being attached to things that are within your control. Epictetus, in his Discourses, Handbook, Fragments, presents positive arguments towards the ideas of Stoicism. His work outlines how a Stoic should behave in a number of situations, and what it means to act in a proper manner. McGill presents a counter argument in his The Idea of Happiness that presents the foundations of Stoicism as unrealistic. The basis of their argument is that it is necessary to be attached to that which you can not control. This essay will argue that the ideas underpinning Stoicism, but moreover, that acting on the premises

This way of thinking means that as long as a person has done everything in their control to obtain an outcome, whether the outcome is achieved or not does not matter. As a result it means that a Stoic finds happiness in the knowledge that he has acted with virtue. This leads on to the process of what is required for one to have virtue; a sense of tranquility. According to the Stoics, a sense of tranquility can only be achieved if a person is only attached to something that is within their own power to control. These attachments are things such as feelings and ventures, as opposed to the things that are external such as the body, possessions and friends. This leads to the conclusion that, in the Stoic view, happiness comes from not being attached to that which is external and instead only being attached to that which can be controlled. In this sense, it can be seen that the Stoics believe that we should not be attached in any way to externals such as our bodies, possessions, or friends, as doing so would mean that they were not living with virtue and therefore could not achieve a Good

Epictetus was a Stoic and as such was of the belief that one should not value that which they can not control. His work contains 53 arguments of how Stoicism should be treated under a variety of circumstances. For possessions he advises that a person should remind themselves of the most basic aspect of an object, for in doing so they will be able to have detachment and therefore not be disturbed if an object is broken. He reasons the same for human beings, or friends, that they are most simply put human beings, and their death should not disturb you. As for one’s own body, he states that “an impedement [is] to something else, but not to yourself” and that this stands for any sickness or lameness that befalls a person. His treatment of externals such as the body, possessions, and friends shows that he sees them as obstacles of virtue, and therefore