Character, Impressions, and the Sequence of Assent

Character, Impressions, and the Sequence of Assent

Grant C. Sterling — International Stoic Forum, July 29, 2011

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To piggyback on the comments of others:

My character, formed at least in part by my own past choices to assent to various impressions and withhold assent from others, may affect my emotions in two ways:

1. It may affect the impressions that I receive. If, for example, I am in the habit of assenting to the impression that I have been harmed by being undervalued by others, I am more likely to perceive the actions of others as signs of undervalue. In other words, if my boss is having lunch with myself and some other employees, and she chooses to sit next to Jones rather than me, I am likely to receive the impression “the boss values Jones more than he values you — you have been harmed!” I do not find the Stoics discussing this at length, although it seems implicit in some things they do say — but there is overwhelming empirical evidence that it’s true.

2. Having received a certain impression, my character may make it easy for me to assent to that impression (especially its value component). To continue the example above, not only will some people be more inclined to see some behavior as an insult or slight than other people, but they will be more likely to automatically react (with anger or with hurt) to the idea that this slight is harmful.

Stoicism, as pointed out already, teaches that if you consciously go out of your way to notice that assenting to such impressions is a choice within your power, it will be easier for you to choose not to give such assent, and by refusing to assent you’ll be changing your character so that in the future it’ll be easier for you to withhold assent — and maybe, ultimately, you’ll reach a stage where the impression doesn’t even arise (you no longer see the behavior of others in terms of insults that harm you).

In any case, again as has already been said, in Stoicism the emotion itself arises after the assent — it does not cause the assent.

Regards,
Grant

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Grant C. Sterling, Eastern Illinois University. Published on the International Stoic Forum (Yahoo Groups), July 29, 2011. Transcribed and formatted by Dave Kelly, 2026.