Stoicism And Emotion

by Graver, Margaret R.

• ISBN13: 9780226305578
• ISBN10: 0226305570
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

On the surface, stoicism and emotion seem like contradictory terms. Yet the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome were deeply interested in the emotions, which they understood as complex judgments about what we regard as valuable in our surroundings.Stoicism and Emotionshows that they did not simply advocate an across-the-board suppression of feeling, as stoicism implies in today's English, but instead conducted a searching examination of these powerful psychological responses, seeking to understand what attitude toward them expresses the deepest respect for human potential. In this elegant and clearly written work, Margaret Graver gives a compelling new interpretation of the Stoic position. Drawing on a vast range of ancient sources, she argues that the chief demand of Stoic ethics is not that we should suppress or deny our feelings, but that we should perfect the rational mind at the core of every human being. Like all our judgments, the Stoics believed, our affective responses can be either true or false and right or wrong, and we must assume responsibility for them. Without glossing over the difficulties, Graver also shows how the Stoics dealt with those questions that seem to present problems for their theory: the physiological basis of affective responses, the phenomenon of being carried away by one's emotions, the occurrence of involuntary feelings and the disordered behaviors of mental illness. Ultimately revealing the deeper motivations of Stoic philosophy,Stoicism and Emotionuncovers the sources of its broad appeal in the ancient world and illuminates its surprising relevance to our own.

Author Biography

Margaret Graver is professor of classics at Dartmouth College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Emotion and Norms for Emotion	p. 1
A Science of the Mind	p. 15
The Psychic Material
The Central Directive Faculty
Thought, Belief, and Action
Affective Events
The Pathetic Syllogism	p. 35
Emotions and Ascriptions of Value
Appropriateness Evaluations and Their Objects
The Stoic Ethical Stance Eupathic Responses
Classification by Genus Classification by Species
Some Remaining Questions
Vigor and Responsibility	p. 61
Rollability
Overriding Impulses Medea and Odysseus
Plato and Platonists The Posidonian Objections
Freedom
Feelings without Assent	p. 85
Beginnings and "Bitings" at Athens
The Senecan Account "A Requirement of the Human Condition"
Alexandrian Propatheiai
A Stoic Essential
Brutishness and Insanity	p. 109
Orestes and the Phantastikon
Melancholic Loss of Virtue Fluttery Ignorance
Emotions as Causes
Brutishness Seneca's Three Movements
Traits of Character	p. 133
Scalar Conditions of Mind
Fondnesses and Aversions Proclivities
Habitudes of the Wise
The Development of Character	p. 149
Empiricism and Corruption
The Twofold Cause Cicero's Hall of Mirrors
The Establishment of Traits Autonomy and Luck
City of Friends and Lovers	p. 173
Concern for Others
Proper Friendship and the Wise Community Friendship and
Self-Sufficiency
Optimistic Love Ordinary Affections
The Tears of Alcibiades	p. 191
Wisdom and Remorse
Strategies for Consolation The Status of Premise 2
Progressor-Pain and Moral Shame Apatheia Revisited
The Status of Confidence in Stoic Classifications	p. 213
List of Abbreviations	p. 222
Notes	p. 223
Bibliography	p. 257
Index Locorum	p. 269
General Index	p. 279
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