Key concepts and quotes from Stoic philosophy
25 cards · philosophy
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| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| Dichotomy of control | Some things are up to us; others are not (Epictetus) Direct effort to your choices and attitudes, not externals (Enchiridion 1). |
| Virtue is the only good | Only virtue is truly good; vice is the only bad Happiness rests on character; externals don’t determine flourishing. |
| Four Stoic virtues | Wisdom, justice, courage, temperance Stoics adopt the cardinal virtues; see Meditations 12.15. |
| Indifferents | Externals are neither good nor bad; only preferred/dispreferred Health, wealth, and status have value but don’t affect virtue. |
| Live according to nature | Align conduct with reason and the cosmic order The Stoic telos is living in agreement with nature and reason. |
| Assent to impressions | Withhold or grant assent; judgments create passions Control lies in how you respond to impressions (phantasiai). |
| Prohairesis | Your moral purpose is free and inviolable (Epictetus) Only your prohairesis is truly yours; externals aren’t. |
| Oikeiosis | Natural affiliation expanding concern from self to all This grounds social duty and cosmopolitan ethics in Stoicism. |
| Cosmopolitanism | All humans share rationality and one moral community “Citizen of the world” reflects our shared rational nature. |
| Apatheia | Freedom from destructive passions via right judgment Not numbness; healthy, rational emotions remain. |
| Passions and good feelings | Pathē are errors; eupatheiai are rational emotions The sage feels joy, caution, and wish in a rational form. |
| Premeditatio malorum | Rehearse misfortunes to reduce surprise and fear Seneca advises practicing poverty and anticipating setbacks. |
| Memento mori | Remember death to prioritize virtue and presence Marcus: “You could leave life right now” (Meditations 2.11). |
| Amor fati | Love events as fated by nature; not mere acceptance Marcus urges loving what happens as necessary (e.g., 4.26). |
| View from above | Adopt a cosmic perspective to shrink troubles Meditations 7.48 invites surveying life from on high. |
| Epictetus — disturbance | “Men are disturbed not by things, but by their opinions.” Enchiridion 5; shift focus from events to judgments. |
| Marcus Aurelius — inner power | “You have power over your mind—not outside events.” Meditations 8.47; guard the ruling faculty. |
| Marcus Aurelius — obstacles | “The impediment to action advances action.” Meditations 5.20; what stands in the way becomes the way. |
| Seneca — imagination | “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” Epistle 13.9; fear magnifies what hasn’t happened. |
| Seneca — time | “It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it.” On the Shortness of Life 1.1; spend time on what matters. |
| Epictetus — roles | “Remember that you are an actor in a play…” Enchiridion 17; play your part well, whatever its length. |
| Marcus Aurelius — be good | “Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” Meditations 10.16; act instead of debating virtue. |
| Marcus Aurelius — revenge | “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.” Meditations 6.6; choose character over retaliation. |
| Epictetus — improvement | “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish.” Enchiridion 13; ignore ridicule during training. |
| Marcus Aurelius — mortality | “You could leave life right now.” Meditations 2.11; let mortality sharpen priorities. |