Becker A New Stoicism

Revised Edition
Revised
ISBN: 978-1-4008-8838-2
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 288 Seiten, EPUB

What would stoic ethics be like today if stoicism had survived as a systematic approach to ethical theory, if it had coped successfully with the challenges of modern philosophy and experimental science? A New Stoicism proposes an answer to that question, offered from within the stoic tradition but without the metaphysical and psychological assumptions that modern philosophy and science have abandoned. Lawrence Becker argues that a secular version of the stoic ethical project, based on contemporary cosmology and developmental psychology, provides the basis for a sophisticated form of ethical naturalism, in which virtually all the hard doctrines of the ancient Stoics can be clearly restated and defended.


Becker argues, in keeping with the ancients, that virtue is one thing, not many; that it, and not happiness, is the proper end of all activity; that it alone is good, all other things being merely rank-ordered relative to each other for the sake of the good; and that virtue is sufficient for happiness. Moreover, he rejects the popular caricature of the stoic as a grave figure, emotionally detached and capable mainly of endurance, resignation, and coping with pain. To the contrary, he holds that while stoic sages are able to endure the extremes of human suffering, they do not have to sacrifice joy to have that ability, and he seeks to turn our attention from the familiar, therapeutic part of stoic moral training to a reconsideration of its theoretical foundations.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Becker, Lawrence C.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface to the Revised Edition ix

Acknowledgments xvii

PART ONE: THE WAY THINGS STAND

1 The Conceit 3

2 A New Agenda for Stoic Ethics 5

3 The Ruins of Doctrine 8

Science, Logic, and Ethics 8

Norms and Moral Training 14

Virtue and Happiness 20

Commentary 23

Acknowledgments 33

PART TWO: THE WAY THINGS MIGHT GO

4 Normative Logic 37

Norms and Normative Propositions 38

Normative Constructs: Getting from Is to Ought 41

Axioms of Stoic Normative Logic 44

5 Following the Facts 46

Impossibilities 47

A Posteriori Normative Propositions 49

Motivated Norms 56

A Developmental Account of Moral Motivation 60

Heteronomous Endeavors, Autonomous Agency, and Freedom 64

Commentary 75

Acknowledgments 87

6 Virtue 89

Inseparable Agency, Virtue, and Eudaimonia 89

The Development of Virtue through Agency 91

Moral Education and Divergent Paths to Virtue 127

The Argument for Virtue as the Product of Ideal Agency 128

Exalted Virtue 132

Commentary 138

Acknowledgments 153

7 Happiness 155

A Whole Life 155

A Controlled Life 159

Life on the Rack 163

A Good Life 166

Joy 173

Commentary 175

Acknowledgments 191

Appendix A Calculus for Normative Logic 193

Notation and Interpretation 193

Basic Definitions, Rules, and Axioms 197

Normative Constructs 201

Axioms of Stoic Normative Logic 214

Immediate Inferences 215

Commentary 218

Acknowledgments 224

Postscript to the Revised Edition 225

The Virtues of Virtue Ethics in the Stoic Tradition 225

Stoic Politics and Virtue Politics Generally 227

Stoicism as a Guide to Living Well 231

Bibliography 239

Index 253

Über Autor(innen)

Lawrence C. Becker is a fellow of Hollins University and professor emeritus of philosophy at the College of William & Mary. He was an associate editor of the journal Ethics from 1985–2000, and the editor, with Charlotte B. Becker, of two editions of the Encyclopedia of Ethics.