Stoicism was a school of philosophy founded in Athens in the third century BC. It taught that Eudaimonia could be achieved by means of living an ethical and virtuous life in Harmony with Nature.
They taught that Virtue is the only Good, and that external things are neither good nor bad (have no Value), aside from being material for Virtue to Intentionally act upon.
Because this intention / volition is the only thing fully in our power to control, it is the primary thing that has Value. By valuing only that which is in our control, we avoid placing control of our lives in the hands of others.
The supreme moral choice is the Conscious direction of one’s own Prohairesis (Will / Volition / Intention / moral choice) in a way that is completely harmonized with the Nature and the Greatest Good.
The stoics thought that Prohairesis is the element of human beings that differentiates them from all other creatures. T
hey taught that by clearing one’s Soul, seeking Truth, and becoming a clear and unbiased thinker whose Prohairesis was properly harmonized with Reality, one could understand the universal logic / reason / Logos, act rightly, and be happy, regardless of one’s circumstances.
Stoicism flourished in the Roman and Greek world until Christianity became the state religion of Rome in the 4th century AD.
“Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of the statuary bone, so the subject-matter of the Art of Living is each person’s own Life.”
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