According to the stoics, it is our rationality that distinguishes us from animals. It is rationality that distinguishes the stoic cosmos from the accidental universe of the ancient epicureans and modern reductive materialists. Many people interested in stoicism choose to ignore the doctrine of providence or dismiss it as a non essential aspect of their ethical practice. They are partly correct. Providence is not essential to ethics. It's not even essential to ancient virtue ethics. The ancient sceptics, epicureans, aristotelians and cynics all included virtue ethics as a part of their path toward eudimenea, or well being. None of them included the doctrine ofp dence is