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What is Stoicism?

Stoicism is a philosophy on personal ethics informed by its system of logic and it views on the natural world. According to its teachings, as social beings, the path to eudaimonia (happiness, or blessedness) is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or by the fear of pain, by using one's mind to understand the world and to do one's part in nature's plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly.

The Stoics are especially known for teaching that "virtue is the only good" for human beings, and that external things – such as health, wealth, and pleasure – are not good or bad in themselves (adiaphora), but have value as "material for virtue to act upon." The Stoics also held that certain destructive emotions resulted from errors of judgement, and they believed people should aim to maintain a will (called prohairesis) that is "in accordance with nature." Because of this, the Stoics thought the best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said, but how a person behaved. To live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order since they though everything was rooted in nature.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia