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the stoicism of marcus aurelius is about personal responsibility and accepting what you can't change, which seems a handy ideology to push so that people don't
by notfromhere 8y ago
the stoicism of marcus aurelius is about personal responsibility and accepting what you can't change, which seems a handy ideology to push so that people don't try to affect change.
- FabHK 8y agoI'd interpret the Stoic dichotomy not so much as "accept it and don't worry about it", but rather as "if it's unacceptable, it is not enough to worry, but you have to do something." It's not fatalistic, in other words. Second, I see the necessity for concerted (political) action to right societal ills; I wonder what Stoicism has to say about that. Many Stoics were in politics or academia, so it does not strike me as an isolationist position.
- floatingatoll 8y ago"I can't change the outcome of self-worth destruction from my billion-dollar idea, so I'll just have to learn to accept what I can't change." As opposed to: "I should try to change the outcome of self-worth destruction from my billion-dollar idea, even if I think I can't or it might cost me my wealth." Again, I am not saying that this is Stoicism. This is the misuse of Stoic principles, by declaring that wealth-generating activities as "things that can't change" and then applying Stoicism to bear the burden of the resulting harm that they "can't change".