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    A Stoic must not be discontented with anything that happe... — Carmelics
    Home/Moral Responsibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    A Stoic must not be discontented with anything that happens in the world

    Moral Responsibility
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.A Stoic must believe the world is providentially run
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    • 2.Being discontented with what happens in the world contradicts believing the world is providentially run
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    • 3.One who finds fault with things as they are implicitly commits to the world being the result of random causes rather than providence
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Stoic cosmology distinguishes between the rational whole (which is good) and particular events (which may be genuinely bad for rational agents).
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    • 2.Marcus Aurelius himself acknowledges in the Meditations that vicious acts by others are real evils, not merely apparent ones, warranting moral correction.
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    • 3.Endorsing providence at the cosmic level is logically compatible with localized discontent that motivates rational agents to fulfill their duties as co-governors of the world.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Epictetus and Chrysippus both held that the Stoic sage appropriately experiences eupatheiai—positive rational emotions including caution and wishing—directed at worldly outcomes.
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    • 2.If rational wishing and caution toward events are constitutive of Stoic wisdom, then a blanket prohibition on discontent misrepresents Stoic moral psychology by conflating passion with rational response.
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    • 3.The Stoic distinction between preferred and dispreferred indifferents entails that the sage can rationally orient toward the world as better or worse, which licenses a form of normative discontent.
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    Topics

    Moral ResponsibilityVirtue Ethics

    Connections

    4 topics

    Natural Theology2 linkedTruth & Knowledge1 linkedCausation1 linkedDivine Attributes1 linked

    Related

    A Stoic must believe the world is providentially runBeing discontented with what happens in the world contradicts believing the worl...Endorsing providence at the cosmic level is logically compatible with localized ...Epictetus and Chrysippus both held that the Stoic sage appropriately experiences...
    +5 moreShow less
    If rational wishing and caution toward events are constitutive of Stoic wisdom, ...Marcus Aurelius himself acknowledges in the Meditations that vicious acts by oth...

    Similar

    Being discontented with what happens in the world contradicts believin...77%One has reason not to be indifferent to the well-being of other people76%One has reason not to be indifferent to one's own future well-being74%When being happy requires acting badly, one's happiness must be sacrif...71%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: marcus-aurelius
    View source passageHide passage
    To understand what the thought, ‘providence or atoms’, is doing here we have to connect it with the discontent that is the topic of the passage. Marcus is admonishing himself for his discontent with things as they stand, saying to himself, ‘if you are finding fault with things as they are, then you must think that they are not due to providence. But if they’re not due to providence, then they’re the result of random causes.’ In this passage, ‘atoms’ functions as the implicit commitment of one wh
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    One who finds fault with things as they are implicitly commits to the world bein...
    Stoic cosmology distinguishes between the rational whole (which is good) and par...
    The Stoic distinction between preferred and dispreferred indifferents entails th...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit