St. George Stock (modern guide) · 1850–1922
A Guide to Stoicism 1 ¶4 — St. George Stock (modern guide)
From “Philosophy among the Greeks and Romans”
Original English text (1908)
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 1 ¶4
The Greeks were all agreed that there was an end or aim of life, and that it was to be called 'happiness,' but at that point their agreement ended. As to the nature of happiness there was the utmost variety of opinion. Democritus had made it consist in mental serenity, Anaxagoras in speculation, Socrates in wisdom, Aristotle in the practise of virtue with some amount of favour from fortune, Aristippus simply in pleasure. These were opinions of the philosophers. But, besides these, there were the opinions of ordinary men, as shown by their lives rather than by their language. Zeno's contribution to thought on the subject does not at first sight appear illuminating. He said that the end was 'to live consistently,' the implication doubtless being that no life but the passionless life of reason could ultimately be consistent with itself. Cleanthes, his immediate successor in the school, is credited with having added the words 'with nature,' thus completing the well-known Stoic formula that the end is 'to live consistently with nature.'
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St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 1 ¶4 (1908)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/a-guide-to-stoicism/1.4
St. George Stock, Stoicism (1908), text of the Haldeman-Julius reprint “A Guide to Stoicism”. Text: Project Gutenberg #7514. Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesGreek thinkers all agreed that life has an aim called happiness but disagreed about what it is, from calm of mind to pleasure. Zeno's answer was to live consistently, and his successor added with nature, giving the standard Stoic formula.
Older wording
- “to live consistently with nature”
- — to live in harmony with reason and the natural order
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Nature and the cosmos
- Peace of mind
- Searching for meaning
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