Sterling's Six Philosophical Commitments Provide the Metaphysical Foundation for Stoic Ethics

Sterling's Six Philosophical Commitments Provide the Metaphysical Foundation for Stoic Ethics

Claude:

Looking at this text. I can see how Sterling's six philosophical commitments provide the metaphysical foundation for the Stoic ethics he's articulating. Let me work through the synthesis:

Substance Dualism appears explicitly: "I am my soul/prohairesis/inner self" and "Everything else, including my body, is an external." The rational choosing self is metaphysically distinct from the physical body and world. This grounds the whole internal/external distinction that's central to Stoic practice.

Metaphysical Libertarianism is embedded in the repeated emphasis that "choosing whether or not to assent to impressions is the only thing in our control." This isn't compatibilist control - it's genuine libertarian agency. We can *really* choose to assent or withhold assent, undetermined by prior causes.

Correspondence Theory of Truth structures the entire account of impressions: "Impressions are cognitive, propositional--they are not uninterpreted raw data, but rather ideas that claim that the world is a certain way." We assent when we judge the impression accurately represents reality. Truth is correspondence between impression and fact.

Moral Realism is explicit: "This belief is _factually false_" regarding the claim that externals have value. Not psychologically unhelpful or culturally relative - objectively false. "Only virtue is good and only vice is evil" is presented as objective moral fact.

Ethical Intuitionism explains how we access those moral facts: we can rationally discern what is "appropriate" (rationally correct) through proper use of our rational capacity. The text assumes we have direct rational access to what goals are worth pursuing and what means are rational.

Foundationalism provides the epistemic structure: the entire system is built on secure foundational truths (what we are, what's in our control, what has value) from which everything else logically follows. The propositional logic representation at the end makes this explicit.

The synthesis: Sterling's Stoic ethics requires these six commitments to be philosophically coherent. Without substance dualism, there's no metaphysical basis for the internal/external distinction. Without libertarianism, assent isn't genuinely free. Without moral realism and correspondence theory, there's no objective fact about correct vs incorrect use of impressions. Without ethical intuitionism and foundationalism, we have no secure access to those moral facts.

This is why Sterling replaced ancient Stoic metaphysics with these commitments - they provide a modern philosophical foundation that can support the same ethical conclusions without the problematic physics.