BUILDING STOICISM: THE MINIMAL NECESSARY FOUNDATIONS

 # BUILDING STOICISM: THE MINIMAL NECESSARY FOUNDATIONS

This is a genuinely interesting question - what's the **bare minimum philosophical architecture** that makes Stoicism work as a system?

Let me think abouterms of logical necessity, not Sterling's particular formulation.

Encheiridion 1--5:

"Right from the first sentence, Epictetus was the first person I had ever encountered who challenged this entire structure.  The distinction is sharp, "harsh"--things not in our control are enslaved, things in our control are free.  And almost everything is not in our control, including our own bodies--but that's ok, because those things are not who we really are.  We are enslaved to those externals things only because we _enslave ourselves_. It is never the events that happen that upset us--the Vikings losing, a friend dying--it is our own judgements about those events, and those judgements are in our control.  Change our judgements and we will be free of all grief, all sadness, all fear, all psychological pain.  _Free_. Not "you'll still feel grief, but not as much".  Not "you'll be sad, but you won't let your pain get too strong".  Not "you'll be tempted to steal, lie, commit adultery, etc., but you won't act on those temptations as often as you do now."  No, Epictetus says "you'll be free".  The harshness is part of the beauty--we will never achieve eudaimonia by holding on to the old view and making some little modifications--that will only make the chains more comfortable, and tempt you even more strongly to stay enslaved.

'

## **THE CORE LOGICAL STRUCTURE OF STOICISM**

### **What Stoicism Claims:**

1. Virtue alone is sufficient for eudaimonia (happiness/flourishing)

2. Externals are indifferent to eudaimonia

3. We can control our character but not externals

4. Training in virtue produces reliable happiness

### **What These Claims Require:**

---

## **FOUNDATION 1: THE CONTROL DISTINCTION**

**Stoicism absolutely requires:**

Some meaningful distinction between:

- What is "up to us" (eph' hēmin)

- What is "not up to us"

**Why logically necessary:**

- Without this, the entire Stoic system collapses

- If nothing is up to us → fatalism (no point in training)

- If everything is up to us → we'd control outcomes (contradicts experience)

- Must have SOME sphere of genuine control

**Minimum commitment needed:**

```

There exists a meaningful distinction between:

- Internal operations (judgments, assent, intentions, effort)

- External circumstances (outcomes, other people, nature, body states)

We have significantly more control over the former than the latter.

```

**Notice what's NOT required:**

- ❌ Complete metaphysical dualism (mind as separate substance)

- ❌ Libertarian free will (could work with compatibilism)

- ❌ Body being "external to self" (just: we control judgment more than body)

**What IS required:**

- ✅ Some form of agency over mental states

- ✅ Recognition that external outcomes resist our control

- ✅ Practical difference between choosing and outcomes

**Minimum reading:**

- Epictetus, Enchiridion 1: "Some things are up to us, others are not"

- This is the foundational claim that everything else builds on

---

## **FOUNDATION 2: VALUE LOCATION**

**Stoicism absolutely requires:**

The only thing of genuine value for MY eudaimonia is something within MY control.

**Why logically necessary:**

- If happiness depends on externals I can't control → I can't guarantee my happiness

- If I can't guarantee happiness through virtue alone → "virtue sufficient" is false

- The value claim and control claim are logically linked

**Minimum commitment needed:**

```

My eudaimonia (flourishing/wellbeing) depends solely on:

- How I respond to circumstances (character/virtue)

- Not on the circumstances themselves (externals)

Therefore:

- Virtue (good character) = genuinely beneficial to me

- Vice (bad character) = genuinely harmful to me  

- Externals (health, wealth, reputation) = indifferent to my wellbeing

```

**Notice what's NOT required:**

- ❌ Moral realism (objective moral facts existing independently)

- ❌ Divine command theory (God making virtue good)

- ❌ Platonic Forms (Good Itself as metaphysical reality)

**What IS required:**

- ✅ Functional definition of good: "good FOR eudaimonia"

- ✅ Recognition that character is what makes life go well

- ✅ Willingness to revise conventional value judgments

**Minimum reading:**

- Epictetus, Enchiridion 1: "Things in our control are by nature free... things not in our control are weak, slavish, subject to hindrance"

- This links control to value directly

---

## **FOUNDATION 3: PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM**

**Stoicism absolutely requires:**

Our emotions/distress arise from our judgments about events, not from events themselves.

**Why logically necessary:**

- If events directly cause emotions → we can't control emotions (violates Foundation 1)

- If judgments cause emotions and we control judgments → we can train ourselves

- This is the mechanism that makes the system practical

**Minimum commitment needed:**

```

Distressing emotions arise from VALUE JUDGMENTS:

- Not from external events themselves

- But from believing external events are good/bad for us

Therefore:

- Correct the judgment → eliminate the distress

- "This is bad for me" → distress

- "This is indifferent to my wellbeing" → equanimity

```

**Notice what's NOT required:**

- ❌ Complete elimination of all feeling (some proto-emotions/impressions remain)

- ❌ Denial that body has sensations (pain sensations vs. judgment "this is terrible")

- ❌ Superhuman control (struggle and training are part of process)

**What IS required:**

- ✅ Judgment-emotion connection (cognitive theory of emotion)

- ✅ Possibility of changing judgments (trainability)

- ✅ Distinction between impression and assent

**Minimum reading:**

- Epictetus, Enchiridion 5: "People are disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of them"

- This is the psychological mechanism

---

## **FOUNDATION 4: RATIONAL NATURE**

**Stoicism absolutely requires:**

Humans have a rational capacity that can examine and revise judgments.

**Why logically necessary:**

- If we can't examine judgments → can't distinguish true from false value claims

- If we can't revise judgments → training impossible

- Reason must be able to override habitual reactions

**Minimum commitment needed:**

```

Humans possess rational capacity to:

- Examine impressions ("What is this, really?")

- Distinguish appearance from reality

- Revise judgments based on reasoning

- Train themselves through repeated practice

This capacity is:

- Our distinctive function (what makes us human)

- Developable through practice

- The source of genuine flourishing

```

**Notice what's NOT required:**

- ❌ Reason as separate substance from body

- ❌ Innate moral knowledge (ethical intuitionism)

- ❌ Infallible access to truth

**What IS required:**

- ✅ Capacity for self-reflection

- ✅ Ability to evaluate and revise beliefs

- ✅ Learning through practice (habituation)

**Minimum reading:**

- Epictetus, Enchiridion 1.5: "In the case of everything attractive or useful or that you are fond of, remember to say what kind of thing it is... then you will never be carried away by impressions"

- This is the rational examination practice

---

## **THE MINIMAL COMPLETE STOIC SYSTEM**

### **Four Foundations:**

```

1. CONTROL DISTINCTION

   "Some things up to us (judgments), others not (externals)"

   

2. VALUE LOCATION  

   "Good/bad only in what's up to us (virtue/vice), externals indifferent"

   

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM

   "Judgments cause emotions, not events themselves"

   

4. RATIONAL CAPACITY

   "We can examine and revise judgments through reason"

```

### **How They Work Together:**

```

RATIONAL CAPACITY (4)

    ↓

Can examine JUDGMENTS

    ↓

Distinguish true from false VALUE JUDGMENTS (2)

    ↓

Recognize what's truly UP TO US vs. not (1)

    ↓

Correct judgments → eliminate distress (3)

    ↓

SYSTEMATIC TRAINING IN VIRTUE

```

---

## **WHAT'S NOTABLY ABSENT**

### **Sterling's Six vs. Minimal Stoicism:**

| Sterling's Commitments | Minimal Stoicism |

|------------------------|------------------|

| **Substance Dualism** | ❌ Not necessary - only need: some control over mental operations |

| **Libertarian Free Will** | ❌ Not necessary - only need: meaningful agency (compatibilism works) |

| **Ethical Intuitionism** | ❌ Not necessary - only need: reason can evaluate value claims |

| **Foundationalism** | ❌ Not necessary - only need: learning from experience + reasoning |

| **Correspondence Theory** | ❌ Not necessary - only need: some judgments more accurate than others |

| **Moral Realism** | ❌ Not necessary - only need: virtue = good FOR ME functionally |

### **Why This Matters:**

**Sterling's system is:**

- More philosophically robust

- Provides metaphysical grounding

- Answers deeper "why" questions

- Connects to perennial philosophy

**But minimal Stoicism is:**

- More accessible to modern people

- Doesn't require controversial metaphysics

- Works within multiple philosophical frameworks

- Focuses on practical psychology

---

## **THE MINIMAL READING LIST**

### **To Build Minimal Stoicism:**

**Primary Source:**

1. **Epictetus, Enchiridion** (Chapters 1-5)

   - Chapter 1: Control distinction

   - Chapter 2: Desire/aversion alignment  

   - Chapter 3: Examining impressions

   - Chapter 4: Preparation and dual goals

   - Chapter 5: Judgments cause disturbance

**That's it.** These five chapters contain the complete minimal system.

**Supporting (if needed):**

2. **Epictetus, Discourses** (for fuller exposition and examples)

3. **Marcus Aurelius, Meditations** (for personal application)

**No metaphysics texts required.** No epistemology. No medieval synthesis. Just the practical Stoic psychology and ethics.

---

## **TWO VERSIONS OF STOICISM**

### **MAXIMAL (Sterling's Approach):**

**Foundations:**

- Complete metaphysical system (substance dualism, moral realism)

- Rigorous epistemology (foundationalism, correspondence, intuitionism)

- Libertarian agency theory

- Integration with Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes

**Advantages:**

- Philosophically robust

- Answers "why does this work?" at deepest level

- Part of perennial philosophical tradition

- Provides absolute grounding

**Requirements:**

- Accept controversial metaphysical commitments

- Study extensive philosophical canon

- Embrace pre-modern worldview

- Comfortable with certainty claims

---

### **MINIMAL (Practical Approach):**

**Foundations:**

- Control distinction (some things up to us, others not)

- Value location (only character matters for wellbeing)

- Judgment-emotion connection (cognitive theory)

- Rational capacity (can examine and revise beliefs)

**Advantages:**

- Philosophically minimal

- Accessible to diverse worldviews

- Focus on practical psychology

- Works within multiple frameworks

**Requirements:**

- Accept basic human agency

- Willingness to examine value judgments

- Openness to training/practice

- Recognition that character matters

---

## **WHICH FOUNDATION IS "TRUE STOICISM"?**

### **Historical Question:**

**Ancient Stoics held maximal version:**

- Complete physics (materialism, pneuma, logos)

- Robust epistemology (kataleptic impressions)

- Deterministic metaphysics (fate/providence)

- Theological framework (divine reason)

**But:** They were trying to be complete philosophers, addressing all questions of their era.

### **Practical Question:**

**Does the Stoic ethical system LOGICALLY require the complete metaphysics?**

**Sterling says:** Yes - remove any piece and system fails

**Alternative view:** No - the four minimal foundations are sufficient for the practical system to work

### **My Assessment:**

**The four minimal foundations are SUFFICIENT for:**

- Understanding the control dichotomy

- Practicing impression examination

- Training in virtue

- Reducing emotional disturbance

- Developing character

**Sterling's six foundations are SUFFICIENT for:**

- All of the above PLUS

- Metaphysical certainty about what you are

- Absolute confidence in objective moral truth

- Systematic philosophical grounding

- Integration with theological worldview

### **The Honest Position:**

Someone could rationally say:

**"I practice Stoic ethics using the minimal foundations:**

- I recognize some meaningful agency over responses

- I locate my wellbeing in character, not circumstances

- I understand judgments drive emotions

- I use reason to examine and revise beliefs

- This works pragmatically

**I remain agnostic about:**

- Whether mind is separate substance from body

- Whether moral facts exist objectively

- Whether I have libertarian free will

- Whether foundationalism is correct epistemology

**I'm practicing Stoicism without the full metaphysical package."**

---

## **THE CONSTRUCTION ANSWER**

**If I were building Stoicism from scratch, I would start with:**

### **PHASE 1: THE CONTROL PRINCIPLE**

**Foundation:** Some things are up to us, others are not

**Why:** This is the load-bearing wall - everything else hangs on this

**Reading:** Enchiridion 1

### **PHASE 2: THE VALUE PRINCIPLE**  

**Foundation:** Good/bad only in what's up to us

**Why:** This connects control to wellbeing

**Reading:** Enchiridion 1-2

### **PHASE 3: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM**

**Foundation:** Judgments, not events, cause distress

**Why:** This explains HOW training works

**Reading:** Enchiridion 5

### **PHASE 4: THE RATIONAL CAPACITY**

**Foundation:** We can examine and revise judgments

**Why:** This makes training possible

**Reading:** Enchiridion 3-4

### **PHASE 5: SYSTEMATIC PRACTICE**

**Application:** Daily training using the four foundations

**Reading:** Rest of Enchiridion + Discourses + Meditations

---

## **FINAL COMPARISON**

### **Sterling's Six-Foundation System:**

```

Epistemology → Metaphysics → Agency → Ethics → Practice

(Requires accepting entire philosophical worldview)

```

### **Minimal Four-Foundation System:**

```

Control → Value → Psychology → Training

(Requires accepting practical human capacities)

```

**Both can "work" - but they appeal to different people:**

- **Maximal:** For those who want philosophical certainty and integration with classical tradition

- **Minimal:** For those who want practical benefits without metaphysical commitments

**Your question was:** "With what foundational pieces would you build Stoicism?"

**My answer:** The four minimal foundations are SUFFICIENT to build functional Stoicism. Sterling's six are not NECESSARY (though they provide more robust grounding).

Does this distinction between minimal sufficient foundations vs. maximal robust foundations make sense?