yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

The 3 Pillars Of Stoicism Explained


4m read
·Nov 4, 2024

If we look at Stoicism as a philosophical system, we can divide it in three pillars: Ethics, Logic and Physics. Some scholars arrange these aspects of Stoicism in the form of an egg. The yolk represents the Physics; the white, the Ethics; and the shell the Logic. According to the scholars, Physics is at the core of Stoicism because without knowledge about the workings of the Universe, Ethics are kind of difficult to determine. In comparison to the fluidity of Ethics, the solidity of Logic forms the shell. Based on the Stoic egg, I will present you the three pillars of Stoicism.

Before I explain each aspect of Stoic philosophy, starting with the shell and ending with the yolk, I want to point out that these aspects are interdependent, and without the one or the other, the system will collapse. So, let's dive in.

1: Logic

We might take our rational thinking about cause and effect for granted, but, in the past, human thinking didn't always work that way, and to be honest, there are still many people these days that feel to come up with logical arguments, and are entirely led by their emotions. Logic is an art. Wise men among the Stoics were skilled in philosophical debate. Diogenes, one of the surviving sources for Stoic Logic, said, and I quote:

"We could say that Logic is not only the hard shell that holds Ethics and Physics together, but also the firm and solid art of reasoning that must be mastered in order to engage in other aspects of Stoic philosophy."

Stoic Logic is based in language rules, like propositions that are either good or false. An example: if you are watching this video during the day, take a look out of the window. Most likely, it's light outside. Thus, you can make the following proposition: "It is light". If it's indeed daytime, this proposition is true, but in the middle of the night, this proposition is false. To explain this we can add a bit more complexity to the argument and make the following proposition: "If it is day, it is light". According to the Stoics, the system of reason is what governs our universe. They call this "Logos", hence the word "Logic", which is widely used around the globe to indicate the principles of existence.

2: Ethics

What acts are appropriate and what acts are not appropriate. Let's use the drawing hand for this one. To keep it a bit organized, the Stoics argued that once we have mastered the art of reason, we can determine our Ethics. They distinguished virtue, which always contributes to happiness, and vice, which always contributes to misery. The Stoics subdivided virtue into four classifications: Moderation, Justice, Courage and Wisdom. In the same way, they subdivided vice into Injustice, Cowardice, Intemperance and Foolishness. Between vice and virtue lies a huge gray area of things that are not necessarily bad nor necessarily good. This class is called "indifferents" by the Stoics. Whether or not to display moral behavior by engaging in this indifferents depends on the context and, again, your ability to reason helps you decide how to act. In other words, indifferents aren't necessarily harmful or contributing to happiness, it depends on the way you use them.

So, how to use them? According to Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, the goal of life is to smoothly float along with the natural course. He stated, and I quote:

"Of course, virtue is in perfect agreement with nature, while vice goes against nature."

When it comes to indifferents, the Stoics distinguished preferred indifferents and dispreferred indifferents. Examples of preferred indifferents are: strength, wealth, pleasure and a good reputation. These attributes are positive in regards our natural condition, but don't necessarily lead to happiness. Examples of dispreferred indifferents are: disease, weakness, ugliness, poverty, and low reputation. These attributes are negative in regards to our natural condition, but don't necessarily lead to misery. Again, the way these indifferents are used determines if they lead to a happy life or not. I must that there's more to Ethics within Stoicism, but these are the basics.

3: Physics

Leaving according to nature requires an understanding of nature. The Stoic concept of Physics can as well be named "nature", because we cannot really compare it to our modern metaphysics. In short, Stoic Physics are simply the understanding of the universe. Like Ethics, Stoic Physics is a vast system of ideas and concepts, so I will talk about the basics. The Stoics believed in a god-like entity named "Logos", which was the all-encompassing force of reason. In their view, existence is based in matter and pneuma. "Matter" is everything our senses can perceive, but is passive and lifeless on itself, and also destroyable. The active force behind the ever-changing manifestation of the cosmos is what the Stoics called "pneuma", which is completely mingled with the [???] of matter, and cannot be destroyed.

The famous Stoic Chrysippus described pneuma as the vehicle of Logos, that structures matter. Simply put, pneuma makes the universe alive. The movement of stars and planets, the existence of life, the waves of the sea, all is propelled by pneuma, and is based on the rational principle of Logos. The Stoics believed that everything is already determined. However, they also argued that there are countless of other realities depending on what choices we make, and thus, many different paths to follow. This soft determinism is very similar to Islamic and Christian views. On one hand, our destinies are written in the stars and, on the other hand, we still have free will.

It isn't a surprise that Stoicism had a profound impact on Christianity, and has a lot of common [???] with Islam as well. Also, Taoism and Buddhism are suspiciously similar to Stoicism in several ways.

Well, that's it. Thank you for watching.

More Articles

View All
Lecture 10 - Culture (Brian Chesky, Alfred Lin)
Set the stage with a few slides and some comments, but the main stage is going to be with Brian when he comes up and talks about how he built the Airbnb culture. So, you’re here. I’ve been following the presentations, and so now you know how to get starte…
Multiplying decimals two-step word problems | Grade 5 (TX TEKS) | Khan Academy
We’re told that Marta babysits to earn extra money. She has saved $48.25. On Saturday, she works for eight hours and earns $13.50 an hour. How much money does Marta have all together? Pause this video and see if you can work through that. All right, so …
Introduction to contractions | The Apostrophe | Punctuation | Khan Academy
Hello grammarians! Hello David! Hello Paige! So today we’re going to talk about contractions, which are another use for our friend the apostrophe. So David, what is a contraction? So something that apostrophes are really good at doing is showing when le…
CapitolTV's DISTRICT VOICES - District 5: Electric Sparks From Falling Water
[Music] This is Capital TV. Greetings, citizens! Welcome to the Corilanus 99 Solar Thermal Power Plant in the heart of District 5. This facility generates over 7% of our proud capital’s energy needs. But did you know that you can generate electricity fro…
Introduction to hands-on science activities
Hi everyone! I’m Donna and I’m Via. We create the science courses on KH Academy. We’re excited to introduce new physics and chemistry activities sponsored by Adobe, and new biology activities sponsored by Amen. You can find all of these middle school and…
You're Either An Entrepreneur or You're WASTING MONEY | Randall Kaplan pt. 2
What is an entrepreneur, and can you learn to be one, or does it have to be in your DNA? When I was a young kid, I always knew I was going to start companies, but can you learn it if you’re not born with that gene? This is the age-old question you’ve rai…