Aristotle vs the Stoics: part I, metaphysics and logic

Zeno of Citium (left) and Aristotle (right).

[Cato] “I admit that some parts [of Stoic teachings] are obscure, yet the Stoics do not affect an obscure style on purpose; the obscurity is inherent in the doctrines themselves.”

[Cicero] “How is it, then, that when the same doctrines are expounded by the Peripatetics, every word is intelligible?”

[Cato] “The same doctrines? Have I not said enough to show that the disagreement between the Stoics and Peripatetics is not a matter of words, but concerns th...