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A NEW STOICISM This page intentionally left blank A NEW STOICISM Lawrence C. Becker PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright1998byLawrenceC.Becker PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet, Princeton,NewJersey08540 IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress, Chichester,WestSussex AllRightsReserved LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Becker,LawrenceC. Anewstoicism/LawrenceC.Becker. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-691-01660-7(cl:alk.paper) 1.Ethics. 2.Stoics. 3.Virtue. 4.Happiness. I.Title. BJ1031.B439 1998 171′.2—dc21 97-15847 CIP ThisbookhasbeencomposedinSabon PrincetonUniversityPressbooksareprinted onacid-freepaperandmeettheguidelines forpermanenceanddurabilityoftheCommittee onProductionGuidelinesforBookLongevity oftheCouncilonLibraryResources http://pup.princeton.edu PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Charlotte BEST FRIEND, BEST COLLABORATOR, LOVE OF MY LIFE This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix PARTONE:THEWAYTHINGSSTAND 1 1. TheConceit 3 2. ANewAgendaforStoicEthics 5 3. TheRuinsofDoctrine 8 Science,Logic,andEthics 8 NormsandMoralTraining 14 VirtueandHappiness 20 Commentary 22 Acknowledgments 30 PARTTWO:THEWAYTHINGSMIGHTGO 33 4. NormativeLogic 35 NormsandNormativePropositions 36 NormativeConstructs 39 AxiomsofStoicNormativeLogic 42 5. Following theFacts 43 Impossibilities 44 APosterioriNormativePropositions 46 MotivatedNorms 52 HeteronomousEndeavors,AutonomousAgency,andFreedom 59 Commentary 69 Acknowledgments 80 6. Virtue 81 TheDevelopmentofVirtueasthePerfectionofAgency 81 THESTRUCTUREOFAGENCY 82 AGENCYCONSTRUCTEDANDPERFECTED 103 VIRTUEASIDEALAGENCY 112 TheArgumentforVirtueasthePerfectionofAgency 114 ExaltedVirtue 119 Commentary 123 Acknowledgments 137 viii CONTENTS 7. Happiness 138 ACompleteLife 138 AControlledLife 142 LifeontheRack 146 Joy 148 Commentary 150 Acknowledgments 158 Appendix ACalculusforNormativeLogic 159 NotationandInterpretation 159 BasicDefinitions,Rules,andAxioms 163 NormativeConstructs 167 AxiomsofStoicNormativeLogic 181 ImmediateInferences 182 Commentary 185 Acknowledgments 191 Bibliography 193 Index 201 Acknowledgments REFERENCEStoindividualswhohavecommentedhelpfullyonportionsof themanuscriptappearattheendoftherelevantcommentaries—toChap- ters3,5,6,7,andtotheAppendix.Anearlydraftofsomechapterswas completed with the help of a fellowship from the National Endowment fortheHumanities(1993–94),andadraftoftheremainderwasfinished during a Faculty Research Assignment from the College of William & Mary(Fall1995).Ithankbothinstitutionsfortheirsupport.Portionsof myarticle“GoodLives:Prolegomena,”fromSocialPhilosophyandPol- icy 9 (1992): 15–37, appear in Chapters 3 and 5, by permission of the publisher.AndIacknowledgewithgratitudethepublishers,authors,and translatorsinvolvedforpermissiontoquotematerialidentifiedmorefully in the text of the commentaries in which they appear: Material from Cicero,DeFinibus(translatedbyH.Rackham)DeOfficiis(translatedby Walter Miller), and Tusculan Disputations (translated by J. E. King) is reprintedbypermissionofHarvardUniversityPressandtheLoebClassi- cal Library. Poem #249 from The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, is reprinted by permission of Harvard University PressandtheTrusteesofAmherstCollege.SelectionsfromTheHellenis- ticPhilosophers,editedandtranslatedbyA.A.LongandD.N.Sedleyare reprintedbypermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.Afragmentfrom Hierocles,translatedbyJuliaAnnasinherbookTheMoralityofHappi- ness, is reprinted by permission of the author and Oxford University Press.ApassagefromSophieBotros,“Freedom,Causality,Fatalismand EarlyStoicPhilosophy,” inPhronesis,isreprintedbypermissionofE.J. Brill (Leiden, The Netherlands), the current publishers of that journal. I thank also Akademie-Verlag, for permission to reprint material from Galen’sOntheDoctrinesofHippocratesandPlato(translatedbyPhillip De Lacey); the Journal of the History of Philosophy, for apassage from Amélie Rorty, “The Two Faces of Stoicism”; and the Monist, for a pas- sage from Nicholas P. White, “Stoic Values.” And this is the place to expressmysinceregratitudetothemanypeoplewhokepttheprojecton therightpathfromdisheveledmanuscripttobook.AnnWald,editor-in- chiefatPrinceton UniversityPress,sawthepossibilities atanearlystage andgavemepersistentandeffectivesupport.MolanChunGoldsteinand Joan Hunter, respectively the production editor and copyeditor for the book, were outstanding. Maria I. Salazkina helped me read proof; she andCharlotteBeckerhelpedmepreparetheindex.
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