Is stoicism the same as indifference?

Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus each tell us that the Stoic is indifferent to external things, indifferent to wealth, indifferent to pain, indifferent to winning, indifferent to hope and dreams and everything else. The Stoics were not indifferent in that sense at all, it’s that they were good either way.

What did stoics mean by indifference?

Perhaps the most characteristic doctrine of Stoic ethics is that virtue alone is good, vice alone bad. Everything else traditionally assigned a positive or negative value – health or illness, wealth or poverty, sight or blindness, even life or death – is ‘indifferent’.

What is the difference between stoicism and apathy?

, Likes anatomy, stoicism, ww2 history and writing. The philosophy of Stoicism finds in roots in a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. Its ”founding father” is considered to be Zeno of Citium .

How do you become indifferent stoicism?

How to Use Stoic Indifference

1. Step 1 – Erasing the Canvas. As humans, we have a natural tendency to complain. However, complaining actually changes the way you think.
2. Step 2 – Painting the Blank Canvas. Once you are able to become indifferent to something, the next step is to be able to see it as a good thing.

What is the power of indifference?

This is the power of indifference toward the things outside our control, or in other words, our view of things. It’s not that you don’t care in an emotional sense, it’s that you’re much more in control of your behavior in the face of those emotions.

What is preferred indifferent?

The preferred indifferents include life, health, pleasure, beauty, strength, wealth, good reputation, and noble birth. The dispreferred indifferents include death, disease, pain, ugliness, weakness, poverty, low repute, and ignoble birth.

What are the 4 virtues of stoicism?

The Stoics elaborated a detailed taxonomy of virtue, dividing virtue into four main types: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation.

Is Stoicism just apathy?

apathy, in Stoic philosophy, condition of being totally free from the pathē, which roughly are the emotions and passions, notably pain, fear, desire, and pleasure.

Is stoic sense of apathy ethical?

Stoic Ethics As an ethical doctrine, the goal of Stoicism is freedom from passion (in the ancient sense of “anguish” or “suffering”) through the pursuit of reason and “apatheia” (apathy, in its ancient sense of being objective, unemotional and having clear judgment).

What good is indifference?

It is good to be passionate about one or two things and it is okay to be indifferent to everything else. Indifference is simply the absence of feeling for or against. It is to say, “I’m simply not thinking about that right now. It’s okay to say, “I don’t know what I think about that.”

Why is Stoicism so powerful?

Stoicism transforms negative emotions into a sense of perspective and prepares you to have the right state of mind. At its heart it’s about controlling things which are in your power to control and ditching the rest. In the modern world stoicism seems a perfect fit for leadership lessons… It has at its core, character.

What is virtue according to the Stoics?

Virtue is how we live happy and free lives. If we were to describe Stoicism in one sentence, it’d be this: A Stoic believes they don’t control the world around them, only how they respond—and that they must always respond with courage, temperance, wisdom, and justice.

What is indifference in Stoic philosophy?

However, in Stoic philosophy, the notion of indifference is vastly different from our common impression. In Stoic philosophy, only virtue is good in the full sense of the word. Alternatively, vices are the only bad. Everything that isn’t a virtue or vice, consequently, is neither good nor evil – it is indifferent.

Were the Stoics indifferent towards the world?

Especially since the modern definition of the word means precisely that. But this is a dangerous misreading. The Stoics were not indifferent in that sense at all, it’s that they were good either way. It’s not that they didn’t care, it’s that they were good either way. Does that make sense?

What are the 4 virtues of Stoicism?

Stoics recognized four cardinal virtues as the most important: moral prudence, courage, restraint, and moderation. Indifference exists between good and bad. Stoics claimed that virtues are desirable, while vices should be casted away. Therefore, indifference appears to be the gray area between these two categories.

What is the difference between stoicism and Stoicism?

When I’ve posted the question “What’s the difference between stoicism and Stoicism?” the most common response is some variation of: One is capitalized and the other isn’t. This isn’t a trivial distinction, though, because the two words have come to mean quite different things.