Stoicism: Foundations
What three Romans actually taught — the discipline of assent, of desire, and of action.
A course on the thought of The Stoics.
What you will learn
- State the dichotomy of control precisely, including what falls outside it.
- See why the doctrine is demanding rather than consoling.
- Distinguish Stoicism from the caricature of the unfeeling man.
- Describe the sequence impression → assent → passion.
- Locate where judgement enters and why that is the only place to intervene.
- Apply the discipline to a real impression without suppressing it.
- State the discipline of desire and how it differs from mere acceptance.
- Explain the cosmological premise it rests on.
Course outline
- The Dichotomy, and What It Costs — Everything begins with one division: what is up to you and what is not. It sounds like a comfort. It is actually the most demanding claim in ancient philosophy, and it takes almost everything you…
- The Discipline of Assent — Between what happens and what you suffer there is a gap, and something of yours moves in it. Learn to catch it moving, and you have the first discipline.
- The Discipline of Desire — The hardest of the three. Not wanting less, but wanting what actually happened — and the reason the Stoics thought this was reasonable rather than mad.
- The Discipline of Action — The discipline nobody quotes. Stoicism is not a retreat into the self — it is an argument that you owe the people who will annoy you today.
- Seneca at Nero's Court — The most famous Stoic was tutor and minister to Nero, became enormously rich in the post, wrote the letter defending a murder, and was finally ordered to open his veins. This module does not resolve…
- Does It Work? — The charge of resignation, at full strength. What the practice actually promised — and why the Stoicism you meet online is quoting a translator rather than a Stoic.
Terms introduced
prohairesis, phantasia, sunkatathesis, hegemonikon, amor fati, oikeiosis, apatheia, adiaphora
Part of the Simposeum course library.