THE STOICS: A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED CONTINUUM GUIDES FOR THE PERPLEXED Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise and acces- sible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging. Concentrating specifi- cally on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material. Guides for the Perplexed available from Continuum: Adorno: A Guide for the Perplexed, Alex Thomson Deleuze: A Guide for the Perplexed, Claire Colebrook Derrida: A Guide for the Perplexed, Julian Wolfreys Descartes: A Guide for the Perplexed, Justin Skirry Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Stephen Earnshaw Freud: A Guide for the Perplexed, Celine Surprenant Gadamer: A Guide for the Perplexed, Chris Lawn Habermas: A Guide for the Perplexed, Eduardo Mendieta Hegel: A Guide for the Perplexed, David James Hobbes: A Guide for the Perplexed, Stephen J. Finn Hume: A Guide for the Perplexed, Angela M. Coventry Husserl: A Guide for the Perplexed, Matheson Russell Kant: A Guide for the Perplexed, T. K. Seung Kierkegaard: A Guide for the Perplexed, Clare Carlisle Leibniz: A Guide for the Perplexed, Franklin Perkins Levinas: A Guide for the Perplexed, B. C. Hutchens Merleau-Ponty: A Guide for the Perplexed, Eric Matthews Nietzsche: A Guide for the Perplexed, R. Kevin Hill Plato: A Guide for the Perplexed, Gerald A. Press Quine: A Guide for the Perplexed, Gary Kemp Ricoeur: A Guide for the Perplexed, David Pellauer Rousseau: A Guide for the Perplexed, Matthew Simpson Sartre: A Guide for the Perplexed, Gary Cox Spinoza: A Guide for the Perplexed, Charles Jarrett Wittgenstein: A Guide for the Perplexed, Mark Addis THE STOICS: A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED M. ANDREW HOLOWCHAK continuum Continuum International Publishing Group The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane 11 York Road Suite 704 London SE1 7NX New York NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com © M. Andrew Holowchak 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. EISBN 9781847060457 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Holowchak, Mark, 1958- The Stoics : a guide for the perplexed / M. Andrew Holowchak. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-1-84706-044-0 (HB) ISBN-10: 1-84706-044-7 (HB) ISBN-13: 978-1-84706-045-7 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 1-84706-045-5 (pbk. 1. Stoics. I. Title. B528.H73 2008 188—dc22 2007039299 Typeset by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Manchester In fondest memory of Gregory Dies iste, quern tamquam extremum reformidas, aeterni natalis est. Seneca, Epistles, CII.26 CONTsENTS Abbreviations sviii List of Tables ix Acknowledgements x Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Stoic Sage 19 Chapter 2: The Stoic Progressor 72 Chapter 3: Equanimity in Adversity 122 Chapter 4: Equanimity in Prosperity 157 Chapter 5: The Heroic Course 193 Bibliography 229 Index 233 vii ABBREVIATIONS D.L. Diogenes Laertius' Lives of Eminent Philosophers ISA Stobaeus' Anthology (Ioannis Stobaei Anthologium, ed. Curtius Wachsmuth and Otto Hense, Berlin: Weidmannos, 1884-1912). SVF Stoicorum Veterum Fragmentus, Hans Friedrich August von Arnim, Irvington Publishers, 1986 viii LIST OF TABLES 1. Egg/Body/Field Analogies 8 2. Aristotle's Three Types of People 30 3. Stoics' Two Types of People 31 4. Stoic Character and Intentionality 44 5. Stoic View of Emotions 50 6. Stoic View of Eupatheiai 53 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my wife Angela for her patience in this project, my students at Kutztown University and the fine people at Continuum for their invaluable assistance throughout this project. INTRODUCTION 'Does not a good man consider every day a festival?' Diogenes the Cynic The final decade of the twentieth century was a time of unparalleled prosperity for the United States. With a robust economy, exceptional standard of living for most citizens and the world's most capable mil- itary force to protect them, Americans conducted their daily affairs with a smug indifference to events in other parts of the world. Americans felt safe, secure and invincible, though there was consid- erable global disconnection. At 8.46 a.m. on 11 September 2001, without warning, American Airlines' Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of New York City's World Trade Center, which collapsed over one and a half hours later. At 9.03 a.m., United Airlines' Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, which toppled one hour later. A third plane, American Airlines' Flight 77, crashed into the Washington Pentagon at 9.45 a.m. A fourth plane, United Airlines' Flight 93, en route to Washington, crashed in a wooded area outside of Pittsburgh at 10.10 a.m. Overall, thousands were killed. A nation was horrified. Americans responded to these tragedies with shock, disbelief and fear. The country was in panic. Within 24 hours, a few carefully orchestrated attacks by terrorists razed completely the inveterate belief, given global sanction, in American invulnerability. In some ways, however, the events of 9/11 were good to America's president, George W. Bush. They gave him an identity that hitherto he lacked as a leader, and a common enemy toward which to direct US fear and anger. Because of 9/11, vulnerability became an issue of utmost significance to Americans. For example, THE STOICS: A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED in a talk in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, on 9 February 2003, Bush spoke, as he had often done before, of the impact of 9/11 on America, in an effort to gain support for the invasion of Iraq. The world changed on September the eleventh. Obviously, it changed for thousands of people's lives for whom we still mourn. But it changed for America, and it's very important that the American people understand the change. We are now a battle- ground. We are vulnerable. Therefore, we cannot ignore gather- ing threats across the ocean. It used to be that we could pick or choose whether or not we would become involved. If we saw a threat, it may be a threat to a friend, in which case we would be involved, but never did we realize the threat could be directed at the American people. And that changed. And therefore, when we hear of stories about weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a brutal dic- tator, who hates America, we need to take that seriously, and we are.1 What Americans became aware of with the events of 9/11 is what most other countries and their people acknowledge as a part of everyday living - misfortune and vulnerability to it. Should that have been such an astonishing lesson for Americans to learn? I can try to answer this question through a story, passed on to us from antiquity by the Roman emperor Julian. The great Persian king, Darius, was bemoaning to the noted Greek philosopher Democritus the loss of his wife. After more conventional means of appeasing the king failed, Democritus challenged the king to find three persons in the whole of his great kingdom who had never suffered from grief and to inscribe their names on to the tomb of his departed wife. This once done, he promised to bring his queen back to life. When Darius could not name three persons, Democritus thereafter laughed heartily at the great king for thinking that he alone suffered such grief and undeservedly so.2 Though Democritus was no Stoic, his reply to Darius was Stoic- like and incisive. Moreover, since its message is as plain today as it was then, it sheds considerable light on the shock, disbelief and bitter grief with which Americans reacted to the events of 9/11. Like Darius, from the Stoic perspective, Americans suffered mightily INTRODUCTION because they entertained three foolish notions. First, they suffered in thinking that they were invulnerable. Next, when reality sank in, they suffered in thinking that such attacks were undeserved. Finally, they suffered in thinking that they were alone in their grief. Democritus, like a Stoic sage, would have laughed at all three misjudgments, as he understood that human wisdom is just awareness of human vulner- ability. The events of 9/11, just like the story of Darius and Democritus, show that Stoicism is needed in today's world: when one comes face to face with misfortune, Stoic wisdom gives one invaluable succour. On the one hand, Stoic indifference, as the Greek word apatheia is often translated (see Chapter 1), is a way of keeping a clear head through ever-shifting circumstances. For instance, Winston Churchill is often described as a leader whose Stoic demeanour in the face of the devastating German assault pulled his nation through the horrors of World War II. Stoic indifference is also widespread in the world of competitive sport, where reversals of fortune are commonplace and many players and coaches deal with such rever- sals by cool acceptance of them. On the other hand, in extreme sit- uations, Stoic indifference may mean the difference between life and death. I give two examples. First, there are prisoners of war who recount that they could not have survived being tortured without adoption of a Stoic attitude. Most notable is James B. Stockdale, a senior Navy pilot who was shot down over Vietnam on 9 September 1965. He spent over seven years as a POW and he survived this ordeal chiefly on account of his internalization of Stoic principles of endurance.