Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Roman Stoic Philosophy

Roman stoics believed defined their religious principles as Logic, Physics, and Ethics.

-Logic says we cannot know anything outside our senses.
-Physics says the world is material and knowledge comes from a sense of material things.
-Ethics says the essentail nature of human beings is reason. Virtue is life according to reason.

There are four virtures; wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance.

Wisdom is the ability to perceive what is real along with its relationships, causes, and consequences. Justice is respect for the property and rights of individuals. Courage is the ability to accept fortune for what it is. Soberness regulates the natural appetites so they are neither in excess or defect.

Stoic sayings:

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing but your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to remove at any moment.

When I have good fortune, I will not make too much of it and I will remain detached from it. If I have bad fortune, the same will apply.

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