Question: Stoic Ethics

Essay outline

Question: Stoic Ethics

Are the Stoics right to think that only virtue matters to living a good life? Explain their main reasons for thinking this and then present your own reasons and arguments for agreeing or disagreeing with them. Please ensure that your response to this question is informed by the lecture, readings and tutorials from week 3. You do not need to cite all required and recommended readings, but we would expect these to be a starting point for your research.

Why did you choose this question?

Stoics ethics, which emphasises that virtue is living in accordance with nature and reason, intrigues me because it highlights the distinction between actions and emotions, suggesting that while we can't control external events or our initial feelings, we can choose our responses, a concept I find both complex and profound.

Thesis statement:

I will expose the limitations of the Stoic belief that virtue alone is sufficient for living a good life. While I acknowledge the importance of living in accordance with nature, I assert that humans cannot fully detach from external factors, which inevitably influence our well-being and overall life satisfaction.

Reasons in favour of my position:

In Tielemans reading it discusses the topic of preferred indifferents (Teun Tieleman, 2016), which exposes that stoics acknowledged and valued certain external factors strengthening my argument that you cannot fully detach all external factors.

As Whiting mentions within his article external factors influence well being which is seen through how climate change directly impacts human health, safety, and overall quality of life.

Reasons against my positions:

Sharples reading states that Stoics believe virtue is the only thing that truly matters because it is within our control, whereas external factors are not; the idea that virtue, being entirely within one's control, is sufficient for a good life regardless of external conditions.

Relevant research:

https://multisearch.mq.edu.au/discovery/search?query=any,contains,virtue%20matters%20to%20living%20a%20good%20life,AND&query=any,contains,Stoics,AND&query=any,contains,Ethics*%20OR%20moral*,AND&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=61MACQUARIE_INST:MQ&mfacet=tlevel,include,peer_reviewed,1&mfacet=rtype,include,articles,1&mfacet=topic,include,Philosophy,2&mfacet=lang,include,eng,3&mfacet=searchcreationdate,include,2001%7C,%7C2024,4&lang=en&mode=advanced&offset=0

Referencing style: APA7

Paper 1: Teun Tieleman. (2016). The Early Stoics and Aristotelian Ethics.Frontiers of Philosophy in China,11(1), 104121. https://doi.org/10.3868/s030-005-016-0008-3This reading was found in my multisearch result #1

The reasons I believe this paper is a reputable as it is published in a well-regarded academic journal; JSTOR, which typically involves a rigorous peer-reviewed process.

This paper will be useful as Tieleman really helps outlining the core principles of stoic ethics and what they believe. I believe this article strengthens my point as it presents a balanced view that acknowledges the strengths of Stoic ethics while also exposing its limitations.

Paper 2: Sharples, R. W. (2014).Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203410752

This is one of the required readings from week 3

I believe that this is a reputable source as it is one chosen by a lecturing staff within my unit. Additionally, I looked up the paper on google scholar and it has been cited 239 times, meaning that it is being viewed by many others.

This reading provides a detailed explanation of stoic principles which enhance my understanding as their perspective is explained in detail.

Paper 3: Whiting, K., Konstantakos, L., Misiaszek, G., Simpson, E., & Carmona, L. (2018). Education for the Sustainable Global Citizen: What Can We Learn from Stoic Philosophy and Freirean Environmental Pedagogies?Education Sciences,8(4), 204. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci8040204

I found this reading in my multisearch result #9

The reasons I believe this paper is reputable as it is published by MDPI, which undergo thorough peer review as well as the research is checked by experts before publication. Additionally, google scholar has noted that this article has been cited 44 times.

The article by Whiting is more recent and discusses how stoic ethics can contribute to modern educational systems whilst, integrating Freirean ecopedagogies; which address modern challenges like climate change and environmental degradation which help me argue that external factors do influence well-being and that virtue alone is not sufficient.