Lately, more and more people are asking for a short definition of Stoicism, and it is being summed up as \u201crecognizing what is under our control and what is not.\u201d What is being referenced is a portion of the ancient Stoic Epictetus\u2019s student Arian\u2019s notes. The Greek is \u1f10\u03c6\u2019 \u1f21\u03bc\u1fd6\u03bd. Or, \u201cWhat is up to us.\u201d If we expand a bit: “What lies within our agency.\u201d <\/p>\n
But \u201crecognize what is up to us\u201d was never meant to work as a summary of Stoic ethics<\/a>, and it doesn\u2019t. It offers no way to distinguish Stoicism from any other life philosophy<\/a>. For example, summarizing Stoicism that way makes it hard to distinguish it from Mel Robbins\u2019s Let Them theory, which is obviously appealing to people who recognize that their problem is trying to control situations they shouldn\u2019t. But that is hardly all of us! (And Robbins definitely did not have Stoicism in mind <\/a>when she wrote her book.)<\/p>\n What lies within our agency?<\/p>\n Stoicism\u2019s account of agency involves, as scholars have painstakingly retrieved and beautifully explained<\/a>, an account of rationality and moral development. To follow Stoicism, you have to agree with their claims about these. It is also one of the eudaimonist theories, philosophical accounts that argue that happiness<\/a> is what characterizes a distinctly human life. If it were to be summed up as quick advice, it should not be \u201clet them\u201d but \u201cbecome virtuous.\u201d (“Be happy” would lead to too much confusion over what the right account of happiness is.) <\/p>\n Eudaimonist accounts do offer means to warn us against approaches to living that surely do not work. Pursue something other than virtue, like fame, power, money, and you will never be satisfied but end up hungrier for more. Something catchy might help remind us of that. But a reminder for us not to take unwarranted control is not so generally applicable. Most of us would do better to take more control of the situations around us. Stoicism is a great spur to us thinking of what we could do that we don\u2019t. And if you think in Stoic terms of justice, our duties to others are hardly realized in even our imaginations. <\/p>\n