4 ms·

I'd bare in mind that when stoicism was first concocted that the entire world was 3rd world

Lagged2Death 10y ago
Wikipedia: When Demetrius of Phalerum conducted a population census [of Athens] in 317 BC the population was 21,000 free citizens, plus 10,000 resident aliens and 400,000 slaves.
- mac01021 10y ago
  How do you prevent an uprising with those numbers?
  - rhizome 10y ago
    Centuries of internalized repression.
    - icebraining 10y ago
      Probably not; the ancient Greeks generally didn't allow their slaves to have children of their own, so few were born into slavery.
  - airbreather 10y ago
    Maybe a slave's life in that society was not as bad as you think.
  - tomjen3 10y ago
    Many greek slaves had decent enough lives, especially if they were educated, they might be running their masters business and have quite a lot to lose in a rebellion and not much of an upside. Greek slavery was not at all like the antebellum South.
msane 10y ago
I'm not knocking stoicism, it's a great outlook. But it asks us to have some perspective. A weakness of Stoicism is that it can allow people to attribute too much of thier emotional and intellectual success to thier own powers, when lack of physical comfort can be a limiting factor on having any intellectual life at all. You should remember that stoicism was concieved amongst the elite of their time and place, who worried least. Modern population density also makes comparisons of the contemporary 3rd world with ancient Greece rather far-fetched.
- blahi 10y ago
  >when lack of physical comfort can be a limiting factor on having any intellectual life at all. This can be said about decadence also!
- elcapitan 10y ago
  > You should remember that stoicism was concieved amongst the elite of their time and place, who worried least. If you read Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, three of the main authors of the Stoa, that is probably the last conclusion you would come to. Seneca was accused of conspiracy and forced to suicide by Nero. Epictetus was a slave who was "so poor that he didn't have to lock up his house". Marcus Aurelius spent the last years of his life (when he wrote the "Meditations") on the battlefield. They were meant as self-reassurance in a very troubled time. >Modern population density also makes comparisons of the contemporary 3rd world with ancient Greece rather far-fetched. Rome, btw. Which was already relatively densely populated.

Wikipedia: When Demetrius of Phalerum conducted a population census [of Athens] in 317 BC the population was 21,000 free citizens, plus 10,000 resident aliens and 400,000 slaves.

mac01021 10y ago
How do you prevent an uprising with those numbers?
- rhizome 10y ago
  Centuries of internalized repression.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    Probably not; the ancient Greeks generally didn't allow their slaves to have children of their own, so few were born into slavery.
- airbreather 10y ago
  Maybe a slave's life in that society was not as bad as you think.
- tomjen3 10y ago
  Many greek slaves had decent enough lives, especially if they were educated, they might be running their masters business and have quite a lot to lose in a rebellion and not much of an upside. Greek slavery was not at all like the antebellum South.

msane 10y ago

I'm not knocking stoicism, it's a great outlook. But it asks us to have some perspective. A weakness of Stoicism is that it can allow people to attribute too much of thier emotional and intellectual success to thier own powers, when lack of physical comfort can be a limiting factor on having any intellectual life at all. You should remember that stoicism was concieved amongst the elite of their time and place, who worried least. Modern population density also makes comparisons of the contemporary 3rd world with ancient Greece rather far-fetched.

blahi 10y ago
>when lack of physical comfort can be a limiting factor on having any intellectual life at all. This can be said about decadence also!
elcapitan 10y ago
> You should remember that stoicism was concieved amongst the elite of their time and place, who worried least. If you read Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, three of the main authors of the Stoa, that is probably the last conclusion you would come to. Seneca was accused of conspiracy and forced to suicide by Nero. Epictetus was a slave who was "so poor that he didn't have to lock up his house". Marcus Aurelius spent the last years of his life (when he wrote the "Meditations") on the battlefield. They were meant as self-reassurance in a very troubled time. >Modern population density also makes comparisons of the contemporary 3rd world with ancient Greece rather far-fetched. Rome, btw. Which was already relatively densely populated.