Stoics and Stoicism

About this Collection

The Stoics were originally members of of school of philosophy which emerged in Ancient Greece (the founder was Zeno) and which had a number of important and influential members during the Roman Republic and Empire, such as Cicero, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. The Stoics believed that harmful emotions and feelings were the result of false beliefs held by the individual and that philosophical reflection and a life spent in pursuit of “virtue” could mitigate or even eliminate these harmful feelings and urges. Their conception of the good life is the rational selection of the things according to nature.