The Philosophy of Stoicism

by Adam Smith

5 minutes • 889 words

²⁷ A wise man has his passions controlled. To him, the observation of this morality was always easy.

If he were in prosperity, he thanked Jupiter for giving him circumstances where there was little temptation to do wrong.

If he were in adversity, he equally thanked Jupiter for giving him a vigorous opponent.

It made the contest more violent, but the victory more glorious and equally certain.

Therefore, there can be no evil. On the contrary, there can be the greatest good.

A brave man exults in those dangers which his fortune has involved him, from no rashness of his own. They give a chance for him to exercise that heroic intrepidity which gives exalted delight from admiration.

One who masters all his exercises is not afraid to measure his strength and activity with the strongest.

In the same way, one who masters all his passions, does not dread any circumstance given by the Superintendant of the universe. The bounty of that divine Being has provided him with virtues which render him superior to every situation.

If it is pleasure, he has temperance to refrain from it. If it is pain, he has constancy to bear it. If it is danger or death, he has the magnanimity and fortitude to despise it.

The events of human life can never find him unprepared at how to maintain morality. Such propriety constitutes his glory and happiness.

Plato’s system is based on Propriety (Part 2, Section 1)
The Stoical system is based on the influence of chance (Part 2, Section 3)

²⁸ The Stoics considered human life as a game of great skill which had a mixture of chance. In such games, the stake is commonly a trifle. The whole pleasure of the game arises from playing well, fairly, and skilfully.

If the skilled player loses by chance, the loss should cause fun instead of sadness. He has:

made no false stroke
done nothing which he should be ashamed of
completely enjoyed the game’s whole pleasure

If the unskilled player wins despite all his blunders, his success can give him little satisfaction. He is mortified by the memory of all his faults. Even during the play, he can enjoy none of the pleasure it brings.

Almost his every stroke is preceded by fear, doubt, and hesitation from ignorance of the rules of the game. When he has played it, the mortification of finding it a gross blunder commonly completes the unpleasing circle of his sensations.

According to the Stoics, human life, with all the advantages which can possibly attend it, should be regarded as=

a mere two-penny stake, and
a matter too insignificant to merit any anxious concern.

Our only anxious concern should be about the proper method of playing and not about the stake. If we placed our happiness in winning the stake, we placed it in what depended on causes beyond our power and out of our direction. We necessarily exposed ourselves=

to perpetual fear and uneasiness
frequently to grievous and mortifying disappointments

If we placed it in the propriety of our conduct or by playing well, fairly, wisely and skilfully, we placed it in what might be altogether in our own power, through proper discipline, education, and attention.

Our happiness was perfectly secure and beyond the reach of fortune. The event of our actions was equally out of our concern, if it was out of our power.

We could never:

feel fear or anxiety about it
suffer any grievous or serious disappointment.

²⁹ They said that we can reject human life according to different circumstances.

The propriety of conduct required that we stay alive.

On the other hand, if there were actually more circumstances contrary to nature, without any hope of amendment, life itself became the object of rejection. He was free to remove himself out of life. The propriety of conduct required him to do so. This propriety was the rule the Gods gave him to direct his conduct.

Epictetus says:

‘I am ordered not to dwell at Nicopolis so I do not dwell there. I am ordered to dwell in the rocky island of Gyarae. I go and dwell there. But the house smokes in Gyarae. If the smoke is moderate, I will bear it and stay there. If it is excessive, I will go to another house. The door is open and I can walk out when I please. I can retire to that hospitable house which is always open to all, for no man living has any power over me.

The Stoics said:

Walk forth by all means if your situation is disagreeable and your house smokes too much for you. But walk forth without fretting, murmuring, or complaining. Walk forth calmly, contentedly, rejoicingly, returning thanks to the Gods. The Gods from their infinite bounty, have opened the safe harbour of death. It is ready to receive us from the stormy ocean of human life. It is beyond the reach of human rage and injustice. It is large enough to contain all those who wish and all those who do not wish to retire to it. It is an asylum which takes away from every man every pretence of complaining or even of fancying that there can be any evil in human life, except that which he may suffer from his own folly and weakness.