St. George Stock (modern guide) · 1850–1922
A Guide to Stoicism 1 ¶6 — 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 ¶6
Following out this conception the Stoics identified a life in accordance with nature with a life in accordance with the highest perfection to which man could attain. Now, as man was essentially a rational animal, his work as man lay in living the rational life. And the perfection of reason was virtue. Hence the ways of nature were no other than the ways of virtue. And so it came about that the Stoic formula might be expressed in a number of different ways which yet all amounted to the same thing. The end was to live the virtuous life, or to live consistently, or to live in accordance with nature, or to live rationally.
Cite this passage
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 1 ¶6 (1908)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/a-guide-to-stoicism/1.6
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 notesBecause humans are reasoning animals, the best human life is the rational one, and the perfection of reason is virtue. So living by nature, living consistently, living virtuously and living rationally all describe one and the same goal.
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Nature and the cosmos
- Searching for meaning
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