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The Stoics PDF

303 Pages·1978·18.709 MB·English
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THE STOICS MAJOR THINKERS SERIES General Editor Amélie Oksenberg Rorty 1. John M. Rist (editor). The Stoics THE STOICS Edited by John M. Rist UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England ISBN 0-520-03135-0 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-27932 Copyright © 1978 by The Regents of the University of California Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90 Contents Preface vii Abbreviations viii 1. An Introduction to Stoic Logic 1 Ian Mueller, University of Chicago 2. Principles of Stoic Grammar 27 Michael Frede, Princeton University 3. The Stoic Theory of Meaning 77 Andreas Graeser, University of Berne 4. Dialectic and the Stoic Sage 101 A. A. Long, University of Liverpool 5. What Does the Wise Man Know? 125 G. B. Kerferd, University of Manchester 6. Monism and Immanence: The Foundations of Stoic Physics 137 Robert B. Todd, University of British Columbia 7. Stoic Cosmology 161 Michael Lapidge, Cambridge University v vi Contents 8. Necessity and Fate in Stoic Philosophy 187 Margaret E. Reesor, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario 9. Stoic Determinism and Moral Responsibility 203 Charlotte Stough, University of California, Santa Barbara 10. Emotion and Decision in Stoic Psychology 233 A. C. Lloyd, University of Liverpool 11. Moral Actions and Rules in Stoic Ethics 247 /. G. Kidd, University of St. Andrews 12. The Stoic Concept of Detachment 259 John M. Rist, University of Toronto 13. Zeno on Art: Anatomy of a Definition 273 F. E. Sparshott, Victoria College, University of Toronto Bibliography 291 Preface Philosophers and logicians now take the Stoics, particularly Chrysippus, seriously. This is not the place to explain the mechan- ics of such a change from the view of most historians of philoso- phy only a few years ago. In compiling this collection of new essays, I have attempted to secure papers that both sum up our new knowledge about the Stoics and also break new ground. Most of the main themes of Stoicism, in logic, ethics, physics, and philo- sophical psychology will be found here, at least in passing. Natu- rally some of the essays are bolder than others, and none of the contributors should be held responsible for the views of his col- leagues. But it is to be hoped that they will be of some philosophi- cal interest and will help to confirm the revised attitude to the Stoics and to spread the good news more widely. Although some readers may wish to limit themselves to particular essays that deal with topics in which they have a special interest, I hope that the book can also be read as a whole, for although the collection does not purport to provide a full-scale description of the Stoic system, such a description, at least in its broad outlines, should become apparent. J.M.R. vii Abbreviations The following abbreviations are used to refer to philosophical and classical periodicals: AGP Archiv für die Geschichte der Philosophie AJP American Journal of Philology AUMLA Journal of the Australasian Universities Modem Language and Literature Association BICS Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London CQ Classical Quarterly DK Die Fragmente der Vorsopratiker® ed. H. Diels and W. Kranz. Berlin, 1960 JHI Journal of the History of Ideas JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies PAS Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society PQ Philosophical Quarterly PR Philosophical Review SVF Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ed. H. von Armin. Reprint Stuttgart, 1964 TAPA Transactions of the American Philological Association viii 1 An Introduction to Stoic Logic Ian Mueller In the first comprehensive history of western logic Prantl1 de- scribed Stoic logic as "dull," "trivial," and "pedantic." Prantl's dis- missal of Stoic logic was accepted by most interpreters of Stoicism for three quarters of a century. However, since the publication of Lukasiewicz's article, "On the History of the Logic of Proposi- tions" in 1934,2 Prantl's evaluation has been largely abandoned. Bochenski's remark, 'The development of formal logic in antiquity reached its peak in the works of the thinkers belonging to the Me- garic and Stoic Schools," exemplifies well the radical rehabilita- tion of the Stoics as logicians.3 The cause of this rehabilitation is not the discovery of new texts, but rather the twentieth-century revolution in the subject of logic itself. Lukasiewicz and others, working with a full understanding of modern logic, have suc- ceeded in retrieving from the ancient texts a Stoic logical theory of startling originality which rivals the achievement of Aristotle, the founder of logic. The failure of Prantl and his successors to accom- plish this retrieval stems not from their obtuseness or stupidity but from the fact that the background scientific knowledge needed to understand the Stoic achievement was not available to them. A factor contributing to Prantl's low opinion of Stoic logic was the character of the ancient texts themselves. There are no primary 1 2 Ian Mueller sources for Stoic logic analogous to Aristotle's Prior Analytics, and the ancient secondary sources are brief and usually hostile in their treatment of the subject. In many cases Prantl's evaluations simply repeat or develop remarks in the sources themselves. The unsatisfactoriness of the sources (on this see Mates, Stoic Logic 8-10) makes any but a tentative reconstruction of Stoic logic im- possible. Unless an indication is given to the contrary, what I describe will be the most certain features of the theory. One of the uncertain features is chronology. The history of Sto- icism proper covers five centuries during which the logical theory, like other doctrines of the school, underwent modification and development. In the case of logic we know of some disagreements within the school and some ideas that can be ascribed to individ- uals, but most of our sources refer simply to "the Stoics," as if there were a single, unambiguous Stoic logical theory. Commenta- tors have tended to assign the major Stoic achievements in logic to Chrysippus (c. 280 B.C.-C. 206 B.C.), the third leader of the Stoa, of whom it was said, "If there were a dialectic among the gods, it would be none other than the Chrysippean one." (D.L. 7.180. At 7.198 Diogenes mentions that Chrysippus wrote 311 books on logical matters.) In general I shall not attempt to assign logical doctrines to specific persons, but simply speak of "Stoic logic." Occasionally, however, it will be necessary to refer to possible dis- agreements within the school. From the modern point of view, the core of Stoic logic is the analysis of arguments. To understand this analysis it is helpful to compare and contrast it with its predecessor, Aristotelian syllogis- tic. Aristotle considers the following argument at P.A. 2.24. 69a5-7: I. Since then [war] against neighbors is bad, but [war by Athens] against Thebes is against neighbors, it is evident that war [by Athens] against Thebes is bad. Leaving out of account here the difference between an argument and a complicated inferential sentence of a form such as 'Since this therefore that' or 'If this then that,'4 we may restate this argument as

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