Stoicism
(A Discussion of My Favorite Lines in Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations Explaining Stoicism) When it comes to Platonism, Marcus Aurelius essentially strips away all the extraneous philosophies revolving around that philosophy. Marcus takes a very realistic approach to the world from a leadership perspective. One could say he is the unintentional founder of Stoicism, a philosophy based on accepting the world is not an ideal place and striving to learn from hardships, not complain. In his private journals, Marcus Aurelius makes many statements that I find to be very agreeable to and mean a great deal to my personal way of life. These lines discuss ideas of learning all one can, living everyday as if it were your last, and do not break against the hardships of life.
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The exact quote is, “Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around,” (257). In life, knowledge is power, and exposing ourselves to new concepts and ideas always gives us new knowledge for new challenges. One can never be prepared enough for the trials of life, yet the best we can do is keep an open mind to new informations in order to easily bounce back from failures. This is something I believe in heartily and take in whatever knowledge I can from failures in order to prevent it from happening again. This quote heavily influences Stoicism, as the philosophy states that positive and negative experiences should not hinder us, but only teach
During his childhood Marcus studied Stoic Philosophy. Stoic Philosophy deals with the teachings of living simply and being down to Earth and logical about situations. Marcus wrote about this philosophy in his book Meditations. Also during his childhood Hadrian had appointed Marcus to equestrian rank, at the age of six. Then at the age of eight he was appointed Priest of Salian. During his youth he was called “Verissimus”, by Hadrian, which means genuine or true.
Aurelius did not live a regular life like others, he was taught to not waste his time on nonsense and to devote his time to training and disciplining his own character. In the eighth person he credits, Apollonius, he explicates to have “independence and unvarying reliability” to be the same in all circumstance such as pain, a loss of a child, or an illness. This shows that he was taught to be calm and understanding that everything happens for a reason even at the hardest times it is best to be patient. The last person Marcus Aurelius gives his thanks to is to his adopted father. He writes that he learned compassion, hard work, and persistence.
Marcus Aurelius and his philosophies were composed down in a collection of his intimate writings titled Meditations. The compilations and stories that Meditations follows are the influence of Stoicism along with
Happiness is all around the world, it is a very genuine and important thing, and everyone wants to be happy. Being happy is what makes life worth living, and it makes life a lot better in every way possible. What makes people happy though? Are bodily and external goods necessary to happiness? I would say no because by which they can make you happy, they are not necessary for human happiness. It’s not what things you buy, the pain, the suffering, or enjoyment your body might get. Human happiness comes from somewhere else within the human. Comparing and contrasting Aristotle’s and the Stoics’ view of human happiness will help give a better clear and logical understanding on what really happiness is and why I believe that bodily
Born of different stations, languages and creeds, Epictetus and Seneca are Roman philosophers who externally appear to be very different. Epictetus was born to a slave mother, sold as a slave himself and spent the majority of his youth as a slave in Rome. Seneca was born into money; he became tutor to a boy named Nero who later acquired position of Emperor of Rome in 54 A.D. Though these two men seem to be from very different worlds, they have a shared purpose in studying philosophy. The purpose of their writings was to teach people how to live well. Though they had a shared purpose, they suggested its achievement through different means. Epictetus professed an ‘expect the worst so you wont be disappointed when it happens’
Both Marcus Aurelius and Cicero try to create a guide, based on their stoic views, on how a person is supposed to live a purposeful life. Marcus Aurelius was an emperor and Cicero was a politician, so both serve somebody or something. In Cicero’s “On Friendship” he bases his guides on what he has learned from important people in his life. In Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations” he bases his guide off of what he has learned as an emperor with stoic views. Some of what he Aurelius has learned is different from Cicero’s view of stoicism; an example of this is in section seven of Meditations. Section seven of Meditations is about what Aurelius learned from his tutor. He states, “Endure hardship, and have few needs; to do things for myself and not
Born of different backgrounds, upbringings, and experiences, Epictetus and Seneca are Roman philosophers who outwardly appear very different. Epictetus spent most of his youth as a slave while Seneca was born into money and became a tutor of Nero. Although these two men seem to be very dissimilar, they each shared a common purpose in studying philosophy and teaching people on how to live well. Each suggested different paths for how to do so. Epictetus suggests in his book, The Discourses and The Enchiridion, that living a life in accordance with nature could be achieved by living moderately. Seneca suggests in his work, Letters from a Stoic, that a happy man is self-sufficient and realizes that happiness depends only on interior perfection. Despite the differences, both Epictetus and Seneca are considered Stoics because of their shared belief in the idea that character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness. The world outside ourselves will never give us happiness, nor will it be responsible for our unhappiness. It doesn’t matter what’s happening outside ourselves, Epictetus and Seneca claim that the only thing that matters is how we interpret those events. Further evaluating Seneca’s, Letters from a Stoic and Epictetus’s, The Discourses and The Enchiridion, we will clearly be able to differentiate the two in their ideas and opinions regarding stoicism and the keys to living a well, happy life.
Plato, in addition to being a philosopher, wrestled at the Olympic level, is one of the classical Greek authors, mathematicians and the founder of The Academy, the first higher learning institute in the west. In short, Plato is one of the great thinkers in history and his contributions to philosophy, ethics and politics are many and varied. One of Plato’s main philosophical ideas is based on the idea that the world
Marcus Aurelius’s, Meditations, is a series of twelve books that record Aurelius’s private thoughts, which were written to himself for guidance and self-improvement. Aurelius was a Roman emperor but despite his high title, his thoughts were humble and rational. Meditations draws ideas from Stoicism, and at times Platonic thinking, and covers topics about life, suffering, and a man’s ethics. The ideas presented in Meditations would be a beneficial guide for people trying to adopt moral standards. Since Aurelius wrote Meditations for himself, there is no logical order to the way the thoughts flow.
Stoicism: “a systematic philosophy, dating from around 300 b.c., that held the principles of logical thought to reflect a cosmic reason instantiated in nature.” (dictionary.com). Marcus Aurelius (the author of “Meditations”) was a stoic as well as an emperor. The book he wrote was a collection of thoughts, things he advised himself to do, a piece reflecting his stoicism, and a personal diary of sorts. The kinds of things put into this book were sometimes crazy, sometimes contradictory, yet sometimes very true and insightful. Marcus wasn’t a professional philosopher, and this comes out in his work, but he had an interesting way of living his life. His writings
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius was a very insightful group of works written by the Roman emperor. It is a primary source that is a personal journal that allows the reader to peer into the mind of an ancient Roman. Marcus Aurelius explains many themes in his Meditations which include; mortality, reason, virtues, duty, death, existence, relationships with community and the Gods. Aurelius is a Stoic, a type of philosophy, “Stoicism stressed the search for inner peace and ethical certainty despite the apparent chaos of the external world by emulating in one’s personal conduct the underlying orderliness and lawfulness of nature” (Pg. vi). Stoicism is very important throughout the book and is a common theme in it. It is through this stoic philosophy that he writes about issues and events of his day.
Stoicism made the transition from an intriguing foreign philosophy to a popular practice because it was taken up by several high profile figures. Scipio Africanus, the original esteemed Roman Stoic died in 129 BCE, but about 40 years later a new crop of celebrated Romans took up the Stoic practice. During the fall of the Roman Republic a group of famed orators, generals, and statesmen including Marcus Junius Brutus (85-42 BCE), Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), Pompey the Great (106-48 BCE), and Cato the Younger (95-46 BCE) all professed themselves Stoics. This group of powerful statesmen and leaders practicing Stoicism disseminated it throughout Rome. Octavian (63 BC- 14 AD) who later became Caesar Augustus had a Stoic tutor and many
Included in Aurelius’ book are all the philosophies he believes in, which generally match with those of the Stoics. His views on such topics as man’s place in the universe, an outer force, the soul, death, truth, knowledge, and virtue are included in his works.
Plato had some views that seemed realistic to society while others to me seemed to be unjust for the people. According to Plato everyone by nature has their own function and in order to make an ideal state they each need to serve that role and only that. They are not permitted to do more than one thing or venture off of what they are suited best to do. These roles are people that are motivated by three
“Don’t form designs, as if you were to live a thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while you may, become good.” (Moor & Silverthorne, 2008). In Book V, the first focus for Marcus Aurelius is that each morning the goal is to get up and do well.