A new stoicism / Lawrence C. Becker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Becker, Lawrence C., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stoics.

Ethics.

Virtue.

Happiness.

Physical Description:

xviii, 263 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

Revised edition.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2017]

Summary:

What would stoic ethics be like today if stoicism had survived as a systematic approach to ethical theory, and if it had coped successfully with the challenges of modern philosophy and experimental science? A new stoicism proposes an answer to that question. Lawrence Becker demonstrates that a secular version of the stoic ethical project, based on contemporary cosmology and developmental psychology, provides the basis for a sophisticated form of ethical naturalism, in which virtually all the hard doctrines of the ancient Stoics can be clearly restated and defended. In keeping with the ancients, Becker shows that stoic virtue is one thing, not many; that it, and the stoic happiness inseparable from it, is the proper end of all activity; and that it alone is good, all other things being merely rank-ordered relative to each other for the sake of the good. Moreover, Becker rejects the popular caricature of the stoic as an emotionally detached, grave figure, and holds that while stoic sages are able to endure the extremes of human suffering, they do not have to sacrifice joy to have that ability. In A new stoicism, Becker turns our attention from the familiar, therapeutic part of stoic moral training to a reconsideration of its theoretical foundations.

Contents:

Part one: the way things stand

The conceit

A new agenda for stoic ethics

The ruins of doctrine

Part two: the way things might go

Normative logic

Following the facts

Virtue

Happiness

Appendix. A calculus for normative logic

Postscript to the revised edition.

Notes:

Original edition published 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-251) and index.

Other Format:

Electronic version: Becker, Lawrence C. New stoicism.

ISBN:

9780691177212

069117721X

OCLC:

973808837