Stoics: What Is Stoicism?

Stoicism is defined as the endurance of pain and hardship without a display of feelings and without complaint. In contribution to that idea, Epictetus, a significant Stoic philosopher in history, said, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” Stoics believed that such a thing as negative emotions aren’t natural because they are irrational. They believe that in order to achieve the goal of a happy life, we must avoid negative emotions because there is no logical reasoning for us to feel them. Anger would be an example of an emotion considered to be negative by Stoics. Considering that Stoics value positivity over negativity, it is safe to assume that Stoics believe life’s purpose is to be happy. I have to disagree.

Stoics believe it is because we have “Stoic freedom” which is basically the notion that we choose our moods and perceptions towards things in life. For example, it is common for a person to be pleased if an attractive someone does something delightful, like buying flowers, for said person. Unfortunately, it is also common for a person to be displeased if an unattractive someone does something delightful for that said person. It is because of this independence that it wouldn’t be surprising to hear a firm Stoic say, “Humans’ attitudes are subjective.” Though we have the freedom to choose to do so, Stoics believe that to choose to be irrational is unwise and flawed. So why exactly should we avoid negativity? At a glance, the idea is appealing. Feeling pain, sorrow, jealous, angry, regret, and hatred are all emotions unpleasant for the soul. By that logic, it makes sense that Stoics detest all things unrelated to happiness and all things disadvantageous for us on our way to achieving complete tranquility in life. Non-natural emotions aren’t the only things detrimental to us, according to the Stoics. Things that are out of our control are just as harmful. For example, natural disasters and reputation are things out of our control. For followers of Stoicism, it is a necessary that non-natural emotions and uncontrollable things in life have no power over their attitudes. In high school, my calculus teacher’s friend won the lottery.

Viewed on a more extensive level, the Stoics’ approach on how to achieve a peaceful life is unsophisticated and naive. They are too centered on only obtaining happiness when the journey to obtain it is just as significant. To be more specific, the way they go about pursuing their goal is that they assume things will go their way. They assume something like avoiding negative emotions is an easy task. Stoics recognize that there are non-natural and uncontrollable things in life. With those things in mind, it is impossible to never be upset or disappointed. It is because challenges are a part of life, they are natural. My take on this argument is that I am a middle-man. I agree with Stoicism to an extent and I disagree with them about other things as well. I agree that to make it through life, we must keep ourselves strong enough to endure hardships. The way to go about enduring those hardships is where I disagree with Stoicism. Stoics are sternly against negativity, which I can understand, but negativity can be used as a beneficial reinforcer. For example, I’m aware of the troubles my parents must deal with since I am now a commuting, unemployed, college student. I feel a bit sad that I unintentionally put my parents through those troubles. It is because I feel pity for them that I am more motivated than ever to do well in school. Whenever I do poorly in class, I complain about it.