The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual

by Ward Farnsworth

Much of Stoicism involves stripping externals of illusion and gaining detachment from them. But of course Stoicism has an affirmative side as well, which many would regard as its most central and important idea: the pursuit of virtue. This topic could have come at the start of the book. It appears here instead because the Stoic meaning of virtue follows in part from lessons that by now we have considered. Virtue is the natural result of an accurate use of reason; reason is the distinct gift that sets humanity apart from animals, so the purpose of human life must be found there. Earlier chapters have shown us much of what reason means to the Stoics. For one thing – and most relevant here – it should cause us to accurately see our individual insignificance (a theme of Chapter 3); and from this we might infer our corresponding place in the world, which is to function faithfully as parts of a whole.