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Stoicism and Virtue: The Intrinsic Relationship

Received: 24 September 2015     Accepted: 9 October 2015     Published: 30 October 2015
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Abstract

Stoicism provides the practical wisdom of happiness to the modern people. Stoicism can also provide us with the essential source of moral power for the virtues. Both the private virtues and the public virtues are deeply rooted into the Stoicism principles that the moral agents have the ultimate moral freedom of choosing, regardless of the changes of the outer circumstances. To effectively build the virtues, we need to effectively distinguish between what is up to us and what is not up to us. Stoicism has greatly enlightened the development of virtue ethics from two fundamental aspects. On the one hand, Stoicism tells us that we need to make the best use of what is in our own power so that we can truly live the fully virtuous life. On the other hand, Stoicism lets us know that we need to accept what inevitably will happen to us with dignity and a peaceful mind. The Stoicism has also emphasized the importance and value of the freedom of moral choice, which means the innate and firm soul force that can exercise the practical wisdom of life, regardless of the changes of outer circumstances.

Published in International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 3, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijp.20150306.11
Page(s) 52-56
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Stoicism, Virtue, Happiness

References
[1] Erich H. Fromm: Escape From Freedom, Published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 1969, p.24.
[2] Epictetus: The Discourses, Edited by Christopher Gill, Published by Everyman, 1995, p. xv.
[3] Marcus Aurelius: Meditations, Translated by Maxwell Staniforth, Published by Penguin Group, 1964, p.9.
[4] Marcus Aurelius: Meditations, Translated by Maxwell Staniforth, Published by Penguin Group, 1964, p.8.
[5] Marcus Aurelius: Meditations, Translated by Maxwell Staniforth, Published by Penguin Group, 1964, p.16.
[6] Epictetus: The Discourses, Edited by Christopher Gill, Published by Everyman, 1995, p.17.
[7] Epictetus: The Discourses, Edited by Christopher Gill, Published by Everyman, 1995, p.6.
[8] Henry Sidgwick: Outlines of the History of Ethics, Published by Hackett Publishing Company, 1902, p.72.
[9] Epictetus: The Discourses, Edited by Christopher Gill, Published by Everyman, 1995, p.7.
[10] Rollo May: Man's Search For Himself, Published by W.W. Norton& Company, Inc, p.88
[11] Erich H. Fromm: Escape From Freedom, Published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 1969, p.30.
[12] Epictetus: The Discourses, Edited by Christopher Gill, Published by Everyman, 1995, p.8.
[13] Epictetus: The Discourses, Edited by Christopher Gill, Published by Everyman, 1995, p.11.
[14] Erich H. Fromm: Escape From Freedom, Published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 1969, pp.47-48.
[15] Marcus Aurelius: Meditations, Translated by Maxwell Staniforth, Published by Penguin Group, 1964, p.18.
[16] Marcus Aurelius: Meditations, Translated by Maxwell Staniforth, Published by Penguin Group, 1964, p.18.
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  • APA Style

    Kuangfei Xie. (2015). Stoicism and Virtue: The Intrinsic Relationship. International Journal of Philosophy, 3(6), 52-56. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20150306.11

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    ACS Style

    Kuangfei Xie. Stoicism and Virtue: The Intrinsic Relationship. Int. J. Philos. 2015, 3(6), 52-56. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20150306.11

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    AMA Style

    Kuangfei Xie. Stoicism and Virtue: The Intrinsic Relationship. Int J Philos. 2015;3(6):52-56. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20150306.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijp.20150306.11,
      author = {Kuangfei Xie},
      title = {Stoicism and Virtue: The Intrinsic Relationship},
      journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6},
      pages = {52-56},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20150306.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20150306.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20150306.11},
      abstract = {Stoicism provides the practical wisdom of happiness to the modern people. Stoicism can also provide us with the essential source of moral power for the virtues. Both the private virtues and the public virtues are deeply rooted into the Stoicism principles that the moral agents have the ultimate moral freedom of choosing, regardless of the changes of the outer circumstances. To effectively build the virtues, we need to effectively distinguish between what is up to us and what is not up to us. Stoicism has greatly enlightened the development of virtue ethics from two fundamental aspects. On the one hand, Stoicism tells us that we need to make the best use of what is in our own power so that we can truly live the fully virtuous life. On the other hand, Stoicism lets us know that we need to accept what inevitably will happen to us with dignity and a peaceful mind. The Stoicism has also emphasized the importance and value of the freedom of moral choice, which means the innate and firm soul force that can exercise the practical wisdom of life, regardless of the changes of outer circumstances.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    AB  - Stoicism provides the practical wisdom of happiness to the modern people. Stoicism can also provide us with the essential source of moral power for the virtues. Both the private virtues and the public virtues are deeply rooted into the Stoicism principles that the moral agents have the ultimate moral freedom of choosing, regardless of the changes of the outer circumstances. To effectively build the virtues, we need to effectively distinguish between what is up to us and what is not up to us. Stoicism has greatly enlightened the development of virtue ethics from two fundamental aspects. On the one hand, Stoicism tells us that we need to make the best use of what is in our own power so that we can truly live the fully virtuous life. On the other hand, Stoicism lets us know that we need to accept what inevitably will happen to us with dignity and a peaceful mind. The Stoicism has also emphasized the importance and value of the freedom of moral choice, which means the innate and firm soul force that can exercise the practical wisdom of life, regardless of the changes of outer circumstances.
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Author Information
  • Humanity and Politics Department, Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nan Jing, China

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