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"Following Socrates, the Stoics held that unhappiness and evil are the results of human ignorance of the reason in nature. If someone is unkind, it is because t

"Following Socrates, the Stoics held that unhappiness and evil are the results of human ignorance of the reason in nature. If someone is unkind, it is because they are unaware of their own universal reason, which leads to the conclusion of kindness." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism#Stoic_ethics_and_virtues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism#Stoic_ethics_and_virt... That's often not why people are unkind. People can be unkind because of specific systems we can name, like racism. How does this philosophy (with "justice" as one of the four tenants) propose a person approaches power structures?

yarrel 13y ago
Those systems are not supernatural though. Do you believe racism is rational?
- johnchristopher 13y ago
  In a given context being racist means you are part of the group/family that you really need to belong to in order to ensure your survival. Emphasis is on `being` racist.
Zen101 13y ago
Interesting
Renaud 13y ago
Isn't racism just ignorance of the fact that others are just like us? I don't really see why this particular example contradicts what the Stoics believed. We could say that racism as an idea rose out of the need for the self-preservation of one's kin, by rejecting those who do not look like us out of a belief that they are somehow inferior. Yet, nature teaches us that we're all basically made the same and that mixing our DNA with other groups actually strengthen our kin's chances of survival. Looks to me that racism arose out of an 'ignorance of the reason in nature', and we ended up believing something that is the opposite of what we should strive for.