Against Stoicism

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus believed there are no bad circumstances, but rather the opinion about circumstances, that they are bad, is what it is bad. Writing in the 1st century CE, he believed fully in the power of mind over matter. Here are a couple choice quotes:

“Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.”[1]

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“You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not your power to conquer.”[2]

I think it makes sense that this philosophy emerged out of the Roman Empire, a sprawling, totalizing force that had come to rule so much of the known world. The lesson for all who resisted seemed to always be, submit or die. The Roman-Jewish historian Josephus wrote in the 1st century of “the destiny of Rome,” calling Romans “the masters of the whole world,” and recounting in detail all their exploits and all the people they subjugated. Josephus had King Herod say to Jewish revolutionaries, “Will you not open your eyes to the power of the Roman Empire and measure it against your own impotence?”[3] Capitulation to Rome seemed to be the only option other than obliteration. No other way of being seemed possible.

So, the Stoics concluded, don’t try to change what you can’t control. Don’t waste your time throwing stones at the temple. It’s not bad unless you say it’s bad, so just don’t say it’s bad.

For Epictetus, despair is a mistake, a result of wanting to control what you cannot control. A slave wishes they were free, and so despairs of their chains. But if a slave were not to long for freedom, they could live happily in their bondage. Epictetus said, “happiness comes from the will.”[4] If you are unhappy, it is your own fault. It comes from your opinion that your circumstances should be different. What you need is to reconcile yourself with your circumstances and learn to love them.

On the one hand, one can see how this philosophy can be empowering. You can carve out your own tranquility by resigning yourself to only modifying what is in your initial vicinity to change. But on the other hand, no philosophy is more useful to conquerors than that which cedes all control of external circumstances to the most powerful and sacrifices all resistance ahead of time.

Angela Davis’ philosophy is the opposite of Stoicism. She says, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”[5]

Hers is a philosophy of resistance and civil disobedience. It encourages a critical approach to the status quo and insists that things should not be the way they are.

It is also a philosophy of despair. By that I mean, it is a philosophy that inevitably leads to experiences of despair. As the philosopher Theodor Adorno said, “resistance … always implies resisting something stronger and hence always contains an element of despair.”[6] Hope stirs action, action leads to burnout, and burnout to despair. Failure also creates despair. When we act out of hope and we fail, the experience is despair. Circumstances produce despair. Epictetus might have been right to say that reconciliation with your circumstances will guarantee “a tranquil flow of life,” if tranquility is the goal. But if justice is the goal, if right circumstances is the goal, then life will inevitably flow into times of despair.

Many today are feeling that despair, as majority control of the U.S. government will be handed over to a fascist regime. Anti-fascism has failed. And so, we despair. That is not to say we give up, that we resign ourselves to fascism. But it is to say, despair is a very natural, human thing we have to experience right now.

Stoicism comes from a deeper despair, a deeper nihilism. I contend that it is a philosophy of denial, a defense mechanism for overcoming the feeling of powerlessness. It stems from hopelessness and sacrifices what Karl Marx called “true happiness” for a naval-gazing self-concern for individual serenity.[7] Despairing, Stoicism denies its despair.

Let us not deny our despair. Let us rather express it and share it in community. Angela Davis also taught that when you have a problem, create community. Make your despair a communal activity and it becomes revolutionary. It becomes a lament over the conditions that keep us in bondage, and so raises consciousness for the need to change those conditions.

We live in despair-producing times. May we produce time-changing cries.

Notes:

[1] Epictetus, Enchidirion, trans. George Long (Garden City: Dover, 2004), 4.

[2] Epictetus, 2.

[3] Josephus, The Jewish War, trans. Martin Hammond (Oxford: Oxford University, 2017), 131, 128.

[4] Epictetus, 27.

[5] I could not find the origin of this quote.

[6] Theodor W. Adorno, Problems of Moral Philosophy, ed. Thomas Schröder, trans. Rodney Livingstone (Stanford: Stanford University, 2001), 7.

[7] Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, ed. and trans. Joseph O’Malley (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1977), 131.

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