Seneca argues that living in accordance with the ideas of Stoic philosophy will
allow us to live a good life in a corrupted society. What arguments does Seneca
made to persuade us of this, and how convincing are they?
*Stoic Philosophy:
-virtue is based on knowledge. Be wise
-The wise live in harmony with the divine reason that governs nature
-reason is more important than emotion
-Release yourself from slavery by realising that hapiness is not attached to
external circumtances. Hapiness comes from detaching oneself from
externalities
-Stoics believe that for a person to be happy the mind must be ruled by reason
Arguments: (Natural Order, Nature-Technology, Luxury)
-(2) Philosophy has a single task of discovering the truth about divine and
human worlds. Philosophy has taught man to worship what is divine, to love
what is human, telling us that gods should have authority and human beings
should have fellowship.
–(3-4)human follows the better man, highest merit position
-natural order, the best leads—stoic-everything rooted in nature
-(14-18) Nature gives us everything we need to survive
-we made it difficult to come through our own disdain for what is easy to
get
-(19) Nature gives us enough. Luxury results to greedy man. Instead of following
the Stoic philosophy(mind must be ruled by reason), the body desires ruled the
mind
–(7-11)evaluate about technology
–
Thesis:
-This essay will argue that living accordance with nature, virtue and wisdom
would allow us to live a good life in a corrupted society as promised by Seneca.