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What is Stoicism?
A Stoic attitude to life aims to achieve lasting happiness by staying calm, rational and emotionally detached, while cultivating one’s virtues. Stoicism originated in ancient Greece and Rome and has recently gained in popularity. The main Stoic philosophers are Epictetus, Seneca the Younger and Marcus Aurelius.
Because of its age and enduring popularity, Stoicism comes in many different forms and has seen many changes over time. It has been argued that modern Stoicism often does not have much in common with the Stoic philosophy of the ancients. In this article, we will have a look at the main ideas of a Stoic approach to life.
What was the Stoa?
The word ‘Stoic’ comes from the Greek word ‘Stoa,’ which means porch or hallway. Public buildings and temples in ancient Greece were often surrounded by columns that held up a roof and that went all around the building as you can see here:
The Stoa of Attalos. Source: Wikipedia.
The space under this extended roof, between and behind the row of columns, formed a kind of porch where citizens could sit, protected from sun and rain, and discuss business matters, the news of the day, or just idly watch the passers-by in the company of friends. These porches were also the places where teachers could meet with their students and where philosophers would find an audience for their theories.
The Stoics took their name from one of these public spaces: the lavishly painted “varied Stoa” (stoa poikile in Greek). The Stoa was used to display items looted in wars, but also big murals depicting famous battles and mythological or literary scenes. Here, the Stoics’ founder, Zeno of Citium, would meet his followers.
‘Stoic’ therefore just means ‘the philosophers who met in the Stoa.’ It was common in Ancient Athens to name philosophy schools after their meeting places: Plato taught in the Academy, Aristotle could be found at the Lyceum, and Epicurus met his followers in ‘The Garden.’
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Main Stoic ideas and principles
Stoic philosophy was very rich and varied, ranging from ethics to what we would today call the natural sciences, including physics and astronomy. But when we today talk of the Stoics, we usually mean their philosophy of life.
Like many other ancient Greek philosophies, the Stoics thought that the proper understanding and …
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