The Top-Down View of Stoicism Versus Grant Sterling's Bottom-Up View

Pierre Hadot (The Inner Citadel, pp. 128--31) quotes Marcus Aurelius systematically describing reality in terms of "two natures". I call this the top-down view of Stoicism. Hadot (p. 130) elaborates:

"These ideas go back to the old Stoa, and can be traced as far back as Chrysippus. While defining the moral goal as life in conformity with nature, Chrisippus specified that he understood by this term both universal nature and that nature which is peculiar to humankind. The identity between "nature" (_physis_) and "reason" (_logos_) is, moreover, attested throughout the Stoic tradition. The fact that these two terms are identical means that the world, together with all beings, is produced by a process of growth (in a sense, this is the meaning of the word _physis_), which has within itself its own method, rational law of cause and effect, and organization (this is the meaning of the word (_logos_). Human beings, as rational animals, live according to nature when they live according to that inner law which is reason."

Grant Sterling's view of Stoicism I call bottom-up:

"All of this sounds complicated, but it boils down to this:

_everything_ on the Stoic view comes down to assent to impressions.

Choosing whether or not to assent to impressions is the only thing

in our control...and yet, everything critical to leading the best

possible life is contained in that one act. All our desires, all

our emotions, all our actions are tied to assenting to impressions.

If I get my assents right, then I have guaranteed eudaimonia. If

I get one wrong, I cannot have eudaimonia."

Making Correct Use of Impressions and Character Development