The Existential Choice of the Stoics

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All dogmas of stoicism derive from this existential choice, argues Hado. In other words, even if the epicureans are correct and the universe is a result of seranipitous chance, one must still act in accordance with reason to be the only good. The rationality we humans possess existed in some form before the arrival of humans. It is ause our human reason is a fragment of universal reason that we can understand nature and live in agreement with her.

What defined a Stoic above all else was the choice of a life in which every thought, every desire, and every action would be guided by no other law than that of universal Reason. ~ Pierre Hadot[i] The Stoics placed a rational, divine, and providentially ordered cosmos at the center of their philosophical system and relied on it to guide their every thought, desire, and action. For the Stoic, Nature is the measure of all things. Therefore, the Stoics argued to experience well-being (eudaimonia), we must live in agreement with Nature. [i] Hadot, P., & Chase, M. (1998). The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p. 308 FULL TRANSCRIPT COMING SOON