THE STOIC 500: SUPPORTING MATERIALS SUITE

 

# **THE STOIC 500: SUPPORTING MATERIALS SUITE**

## **TABLE OF CONTENTS**

1. **Master Index** (Alphabetical listing with term numbers and tier locations)

2. **Tier Summaries** (Conceptual overview of each tier's purpose)

3. **Cross-Reference Guide** (Logical dependencies and connections)

4. **Sterling's Six Commitments Index** (Where each commitment appears)

5. **Greek-English Concordance** (Greek terms with English equivalents)

6. **Functional Categories** (Terms grouped by operational role)

7. **Practice Guide** (Terms organized by daily application)

8. **Quick Reference Cards** (One-page summaries by tier)

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## **1. MASTER INDEX**

**Alphabetical Listing of All 471 Terms**

### **A**

- Absolute-Sovereignty (443)

- Affirmation-Test (88)

- Alarm-Creation (Tier 4)

- Anamnēsis / Reflection (11)

- Appearance-Recognition (61)

- Appearance-Separation (62)

- Assent / Sunkatathesis (2)

- Assent-Delay (78)

- Assent-Habit (93)

- Assent-Readiness (86)

- Assent-Withholding (87)

- Autokrateia / Self-Command (17)

- Aversion / Ekklisis (5)

### **B**

- Bouleusis / Deliberation (12)

- Boulēsis / Will (14)

- Boundary-Recognition (34)

### **C**

- Causal-Boundary (440)

- Causal-Primacy (439)

- Choice / Prohairesis (7)

- Choice-Freedom (431)

- Choice-Independence (432)

- Choice-Responsibility (434)

- Choice-Sufficiency (433)

- Cognitive-Guard (95)

- Cognitive-Purity (99)

- Cognitive-Suspension (72)

- Contra-Causal-Freedom (436)

- Content-Extraction (64)

- Correct-Assent (91)

- Counter-Image-Check (75)

- Counterexample-Check (85)

### **D**

- Daily-Mastery (398)

- Denial-Test (89)

- Description-vs-Judgment-Division (70)

- Desire / Orexis (4)

- Diakrisis / Discernment (16)

- Discipline-Continuity (389)

- Discipline-Correction (357)

- Discipline-Formation (352)

- Discipline-Integration (354)

- Discipline-Neutrality (394)

- Discipline-Posture (388)

- Discipline-Purification (356)

- Discipline-Recognition (351)

- Discipline-Renewal (390)

- Discipline-Reorientation (358)

- Discipline-Simplicity (355)

- Discipline-Stability (353)

- Disconfirmation-Search (84)

- Distortion-Recognition (74)

- Domain-Alignment (50)

- Domain-Clarity (49)

- Domain-Integrity (57)

### **E**

- Eleutheria Endoterā / Internal-Freedom (20)

- Emotional-Layer-Removal (76)

- Error-Awareness (376)

- Error-Correction (378)

- Error-Filter (79)

- Error-Integration (379)

- Error-Interruption (377)

- Ethical-Intuitionism (449)

- Event-Forecasting (373)

- Event-Neutrality (404)

- Evidence-Review (73)

- Examination-Clarity (369)

- Examination-Continuity (370)

- Examination-Depth (368)

- Examination-Entry (367)

- Examination-Recognition (366)

- External-Causation (407)

- External-Complexity (410)

- External-Dependency (36)

- External-Domain (22)

- External-Event (26)

- External-Futility (38)

- External-Illusion (30)

- External-Independence (409)

- External-Indifference (52)

- External-Indifferent (28)

- External-Instability (44)

- External-Insufficiency (54)

- External-Limit (46, 408)

- External-Non-Ownership (42)

- External-Non-Responsibility (48)

- External-Occurrence (405)

- External-Sequence (406)

- External-Subordination (56)

- External-Transience (60, 411)

- External-Volatility (412)

- External-Weakness (40)

- Extrinsic-Appearance (32)

### **F**

- Final-Clarity (463)

- Final-Freedom (464)

- Final-Goodness (465)

- Final-Posture (461)

- Final-Truth (466)

- Final-Unity (462)

- Foundationalism (450)

- Freedom-Completion (442)

- Freedom-Invulnerability (441)

- Freedom-Recognition (430)

### **G–H**

- Hardship-Readiness (375)

- Homologia / Self-Consistency (18)

- Hormē / Impulse (3)

### **I**

- Implicit-Assumption-Recognition (67)

- Impression / Phantasia (1)

- Impression-Completion (100)

- Impression-Mastery (94)

- Incorrect-Assent (92)

- Inner-Clarity (97)

- Internal-Action (25)

- Internal-Agency (421)

- Internal-Authority (35)

- Internal-Causation (422)

- Internal-Constancy (59)

- Internal-Continuity (425)

- Internal-Domain (21)

- Internal-Evil (29)

- Internal-Good (27)

- Internal-Guardianship (51)

- Internal-Integrity (424)

- Internal-Limit (45)

- Internal-Orientation (58)

- Internal-Ownership (41)

- Internal-Primacy (55)

- Internal-Responsibility (47)

- Internal-Sovereignty (423)

- Internal-Stability (43)

- Internal-Strength (39)

- Internal-Structure (426)

- Internal-Sufficiency (53)

- Internal–External-Distinction (33)

- Internal–External-Test (68)

- Intrinsic-Value (31)

### **J–K–L**

- Katanoēsis / Observation (9)

- Krisis / Judgment (6)

- Libertarian-Freedom (435)

- Logos / Reason (8)

### **M**

- Mental-Simplicity (98)

- Mind-Body-Distinction (402)

- Moral-Agency (437)

- Moral-Architecture (456)

- Moral-Causation (438)

- Moral-Intuition (448)

- Moral-Realism (447)

- Moral-Truth (446)

- Morning-Preparation (371)

### **N–O**

- Neutral-Observation (63)

- Obstacle-Preacceptance (374)

- Ontological-Independence (427)

- Ontological-Simplicity (428)

- Orexis / Desire (4)

### **P**

- Phantasia / Impression (1)

- Position-Testing (82)

- Practice-Completion (400)

- Practice-Security (395)

- Practice-Stability (396)

- Practice-Vigor (397)

- Prohairesis / Choice (7)

- Prohairesis-Perfection (470)

- Proposition-Clarification (81)

- Proposition-Identification (65)

- Prosochē / Attention (10)

### **R**

- Rational-Conclusion (90)

- Rational-Pause (71)

- Rational-Refinement (80)

- Readiness-Activation (385)

- Readiness-Recognition (384)

- Readiness-Return (387)

- Readiness-Stability (386)

- Reality-Alignment (96)

- Reality-Check (69)

- Reality-Structure (403)

- Reality-Sufficiency (414)

- Reality-Transparency (413)

- Reason / Logos (8)

- Reason-Authority (451)

- Reason-Completion (457)

- Reason-Constancy (454)

- Reason-Sufficiency (452)

- Reason-Transparency (453)

### **S**

- Sage-Invulnerability (469)

- Sage-Structure (468)

- Self-Boundary (420)

- Self-Command / Autokrateia (17)

- Self-Completion (429)

- Self-Consistency / Homologia (18)

- Self-Recognition (416)

- Self-Simplicity (417)

- Self-Sufficiency (37, 419)

- Self-Transparency (418)

- Skopos-Prohairetikos / Moral-Aim (15)

- Skopē / Aim (13)

- Sphere-of-Externals (24)

- Sphere-of-Internals (23)

- Substance-Dualism (401)

- Sunkatathesis / Assent (2)

### **T**

- Tautotēs-Prohairetikē / Moral-Identity (19)

- Teleological-Completion (467)

- Telos-Achievement (471)

- Training-Boundary (391)

- Training-Completion (362)

- Training-Endurance (365)

- Training-Engagement (361)

- Training-Focus (364)

- Training-Integrity (392)

- Training-Neutrality (394)

- Training-Preparation (360)

- Training-Purity (399)

- Training-Recognition (359)

- Training-Repetition (363)

- Training-Unity (393)

- Truth-Comparison (77)

- Truth-Correspondence (455)

- Truth-Independence (445)

- Truth-Recognition (444)

### **V**

- Value-Detection (66)

- Vigilance-Consistency (383)

- Vigilance-Formation (381)

- Vigilance-Intensity (382)

- Vigilance-Recognition (380)

### **W**

- World-Continuity (414)

- World-Indifference (415)

- World-Self-Alignment (459)

- World-Self-Division (458)

- World-Self-Independence (460)

---

2. TIER SUMMARIES (REVISED WITH CRITICAL TERMS)

Conceptual Overview of Each Tier's Purpose and Function

TIER 1: CORE STOIC FACULTIES (1-20)

Purpose: Establish the foundational mental operations of Stoic psychology.

Key Function: These are the irreducible elements of Stoic cognition—impression, assent, impulse, judgment, and choice. Everything else in the system builds from these 20 operations. Without mastery of Tier 1 vocabulary, the student cannot understand how the mind actually works in Stoic theory.

**Critical Terms:**

1. **Phantasia / Impression (1)** - The propositional appearance presented to the ruling faculty

2. **Sunkatathesis / Assent (2)** - The acceptance of an impression's propositional content as true

3. **Hormē / Impulse (3)** - The inward motion toward action arising from assent

4. **Prohairesis / Choice (7)** - The ruling faculty's capacity to choose; seat of moral agency

5. **Logos / Reason (8)** - The rational faculty aligning judgment with truth and nature

6. **Prosochē / Attention (10)** - Active mental focus applied to impressions

7. **Diakrisis / Discernment (16)** - The ability to distinguish internal from external

8. **Eleutheria Endoterā / Internal-Freedom (20)** - Freedom grounded solely in correct assent

**Pedagogical Note:** Tier 1 must be memorized and understood before attempting Tiers 2-10. These are the grammar of Stoic thought.

---

### **TIER 2: INTERNAL-EXTERNAL DIVISION (21-60)**

**Purpose:** Articulate the fundamental dichotomy between what is up to us and what is not.

**Key Function:** This is the ontological and practical division that makes Stoicism work. Without sharp clarity on this boundary, desire and aversion will be misdirected, leading to suffering and vice. Tier 2 defines the two domains, their characteristics, and the relationship between them.

**Critical Terms:**

1. **Internal-Domain (21)** - The sphere of judgment, assent, impulse, and choice

2. **External-Domain (22)** - All things outside judgment and choice

3. **Internal-Good (27)** - Virtue, correct judgment, and right reason (the sole good)

4. **External-Indifferent (28)** - Everything outside the mind's activity (neither good nor evil)

5. **Internal-Evil (29)** - Vice: false judgment, wrong valuation

6. **Internal-External-Distinction (33)** - Separating what is within control from what is not

7. **Self-Sufficiency (37)** - Possessing all good within one's own faculty

8. **Domain-Clarity (49)** - The capacity to assign each impression to its proper domain

9. **Domain-Alignment (50)** - Aligning desire and aversion exclusively with internals

10. **Internal-Orientation (58)** - Continual turning of perception toward the Internal-Domain

**Pedagogical Note:** This tier operationalizes Enchiridion 1. Students must practice Domain-Clarity (49) daily until automatic.

---

### **TIER 3: EXAMINATION OF IMPRESSIONS (61-100)**

**Purpose:** Provide the complete method for evaluating appearances before granting assent.

**Key Function:** This tier is the heart of Stoic practice. It gives the step-by-step cognitive procedure for handling impressions: recognition, separation, neutral observation, content extraction, testing, and final judgment. Mastery of Tier 3 enables the agent to avoid false assent and emotional disturbance.

**Critical Terms:**

1. **Appearance-Recognition (61)** - Seeing an impression as an appearance rather than reality

2. **Appearance-Separation (62)** - Isolating the impression from the external object

3. **Neutral-Observation (63)** - Restoring the impression to purely descriptive form

4. **Value-Detection (66)** - Identifying implicit claims of goodness or badness

5. **Internal-External-Test (68)** - Subjecting impression's content to the fundamental criterion

6. **Reality-Check (69)** - Examining factual adequacy of descriptive content

7. **Rational-Pause (71)** - Establishing deliberate interruption between appearance and assent

8. **Assent-Delay (78)** - Postponing assent until judgment is clear

9. **Correct-Assent (91)** - Assent aligned with truth and internals

10. **Assent-Habit (93)** - The cultivated tendency to examine before assenting

**Pedagogical Note:** This is where theory becomes practice. Students must rehearse this examination sequence until it becomes second nature.

---

### **TIER 4: EMOTIONAL REGULATION (101-150)**

**Purpose:** Explain the structure of emotions (pathē) and how to prevent or dissolve them.

**Key Function:** Emotions arise from false judgments about externals. Tier 4 shows the genesis of each major passion, its underlying false belief, and the rational correction. This tier also covers eupatheiai (good feelings) that arise from correct judgment.

**Critical Terms:**

[Based on the typical Stoic structure of Tier 4, the critical terms would include:]

1. **Pathos** - Irrational emotion arising from false judgment

2. **Eupatheia** - Rational feeling arising from correct judgment

3. **Fear (Phobos)** - False judgment that external evil threatens

4. **Desire (Epithumia)** - False judgment that external good is achievable

5. **Distress (Lupē)** - False judgment that external evil is present

6. **Pleasure (Hēdonē)** - False judgment that external good is present

7. **Boulēsis** - Rational wish for genuine good (internal)

8. **Chara** - Rational joy at genuine good

9. **Eulabeia** - Rational caution about genuine evil (vice)

10. **Emotional-Layer-Removal (76)** - Stripping impression of affective coloration

**Pedagogical Note:** Understanding this tier eliminates the illusion that emotions are involuntary or externally caused.

---

### **TIER 5: RATIONAL IMPULSE AND ACTION (151-200)**

**Purpose:** Show how correct assent produces appropriate action.

**Key Function:** This tier connects internal judgment to external behavior. It explains rational impulse, appropriate action (kathēkon), right action (katorthōma), and the relationship between intention and outcome. Action is always the product of assent, never a response to externals.

**Critical Terms:**

[Based on typical Stoic action theory structure:]

1. **Rational-Impulse** - Movement toward action from correct assent

2. **Irrational-Impulse** - Movement toward action from false assent

3. **Kathēkon (Appropriate Action)** - Action fitting circumstances, performed by progressors

4. **Katorthōma (Right Action)** - Perfectly virtuous action, performed only by sage

5. **Intention-Primary** - Moral value resides in intention, not outcome

6. **Outcome-Indifference** - Results are external, therefore indifferent

7. **Action-Independence** - Virtuous action possible regardless of circumstances

8. **Internal-Responsibility (47)** - Moral responsibility for choice, not outcome

9. **External-Engagement** - How to act in external world without attachment

10. **Selection-Rationality** - Choosing among indifferents according to reason

**Pedagogical Note:** This tier explains why Stoics can act rationally even in "bad" circumstances—because action quality depends only on internal correctness.

---

### **TIER 6: PREFERRED AND DISPREFERRED INDIFFERENTS (201-250)**

**Purpose:** Articulate the Stoic doctrine of selection among externals.

**Key Function:** While externals are morally indifferent, some are naturally preferable (health, wealth) and others dispreferred (sickness, poverty). This tier explains how to engage rationally with externals without attributing value to them. The key is selection without attachment.

**Critical Terms:**

[Based on Stoic indifferents doctrine:]

1. **Preferred-Indifferent** - Naturally desirable but not good (health, wealth, life)

2. **Dispreferred-Indifferent** - Naturally aversive but not evil (illness, poverty, death)

3. **Absolute-Indifferent** - Neither preferred nor dispreferred (number of hairs)

4. **Selection (Eklogē)** - Rational choice among indifferents

5. **Rejection (Apeklogē)** - Rational avoidance among indifferents

6. **Natural-Value (Axia)** - Instrumental worth without moral goodness

7. **Preference-Without-Attachment** - Selecting rationally without dependence

8. **Outcome-Acceptance** - Accepting results with equanimity

9. **Role-Appropriate-Action** - Acting according to social role using indifferents

10. **External-Engagement-Rules** - Guidelines for interaction with preferred indifferents

**Pedagogical Note:** This tier prevents the misunderstanding that Stoics are indifferent to all outcomes. We prefer health, but do not make happiness depend on it.

---

### **TIER 7: CHARACTER FORMATION (251-300)**

**Purpose:** Explain how stable moral dispositions develop through repeated judgment.

**Key Function:** Character (ēthos) is the accumulated pattern of assents that becomes habitual. This tier shows how virtue and vice form, how to recognize character traits, and how to reshape character through training. Character is internal structure made stable.

**Critical Terms:**

[Based on character development theory:]

1. **Character (Ēthos)** - Stable pattern of judgments and responses

2. **Character-Formation** - Process by which repeated assents become dispositions

3. **Habituation** - Mechanism making responses automatic

4. **Disposition (Hexis)** - Stable tendency toward certain judgments

5. **Virtue-Directed-Character** - Stable tendency toward correct assent

6. **Vice-Directed-Character** - Stable tendency toward incorrect assent

7. **Character-Stability** - Resistance to perturbation from circumstances

8. **Character-Transformation** - Process of reshaping through practice

9. **Progressive-Character** - Intermediate state between vice and virtue

10. **Character-Integration** - Unity of traits across contexts

**Pedagogical Note:** Character change requires sustained, deliberate practice. This tier provides the roadmap.

---

### **TIER 8: VIRTUE AND VICE STRUCTURE (301-350)**

**Purpose:** Define the four cardinal virtues, their sub-virtues, and opposing vices.

**Key Function:** Virtue is the perfected state of prohairesis; vice is its corruption. This tier gives the complete architecture of moral excellence: Wisdom, Justice, Courage, Moderation, and their detailed components. Each virtue is a mode of correct judgment applied to a specific domain.

**Critical Terms:**

[Based on cardinal virtues structure:]

1. **Wisdom (Sophia/Phronēsis)** - Knowledge of good and evil; correct evaluation

2. **Justice (Dikaiosunē)** - Giving each its due; proper relations

3. **Courage (Andreia)** - Correct assent about what to fear/endure

4. **Moderation (Sōphrosunē)** - Correct assent about desire/aversion; orderly disposition

5. **Virtue-Unity** - All four virtues are one thing: correct judgment

6. **Virtue-Indivisibility** - Cannot have one virtue without all

7. **Vice-Structure** - Systematic false judgment (mirror of virtue)

8. **Foolishness** - Ignorance of good/evil (opposite of wisdom)

9. **Injustice** - Violation of due relations (opposite of justice)

10. **Cowardice/Rashness** - False judgment about fear (opposite of courage)

**Pedagogical Note:** The virtues are unified—you cannot have one without all. This tier explains why.

---

### **TIER 9: DISCIPLINE, TRAINING, AND DAILY PRACTICE (351-400)**

**Purpose:** Provide the operational framework for Stoic exercise and discipline.

**Key Function:** This tier translates theory into daily routine: morning preparation, evening review, event forecasting, error correction, vigilance, and readiness. These are the concrete practices that build and maintain prohairesis. Without Tier 9, Stoicism remains abstract philosophy.

**Critical Terms:**

1. **Discipline-Recognition (351)** - Seeing discipline as acceptance of rational constraints

2. **Morning-Preparation (371)** - Setting internal aims before impressions arrive

3. **Evening-Review (372)** - Reviewing judgments and actions taken during the day

4. **Event-Forecasting (373)** - Anticipating likely impressions and externals

5. **Obstacle-Preacceptance (374)** - Accepting inevitability of obstacles in advance

6. **Error-Awareness (376)** - Knowing one's likelihood of mistaken assent

7. **Error-Correction (378)** - Fixing mistaken judgments as soon as they occur

8. **Vigilance-Recognition (380)** - Seeing vigilance as continuous mental posture

9. **Daily-Mastery (398)** - Mastery of daily practice routines

10. **Practice-Completion (400)** - Ending day's exercises with internal fulfillment

**Pedagogical Note:** This tier is *how you actually practice*. It must be implemented, not just understood. Based on Sterling's theory (Excerpt 7), operationalized into daily discipline.

---

### **TIER 10: METAPHYSICS, REALITY, AND FINAL STRUCTURES (401-471)**

**Purpose:** Ground the entire system in its metaphysical commitments and show the final architecture of the sage.

**Key Function:** This tier provides the ontological foundation: substance dualism, libertarian freedom, moral realism, correspondence theory, ethical intuitionism, and foundationalism (Sterling's six commitments). It also describes the completed state—the sage—and the achievement of telos. Without Tier 10, Stoicism lacks philosophical grounding.

**Critical Terms:**

**Sterling's Six Commitments:**

1. **Substance-Dualism (401)** - Mind and body are fundamentally different substances

2. **Mind-Body-Distinction (402)** - Sharp ontological division between immaterial ruling faculty and material organism

3. **Libertarian-Freedom (435)** - Agents are uncaused causes of their own choices

4. **Contra-Causal-Freedom (436)** - Freedom to act against all prior causes

5. **Moral-Realism (447)** - Moral propositions are objectively true or false

6. **Moral-Intuition (448)** - Direct apprehension of moral truth without inference

7. **Ethical-Intuitionism (449)** - Moral truths known through direct rational insight

8. **Foundationalism (450)** - Knowledge rests on self-evident foundational truths

9. **Truth-Correspondence (455)** - Truth consists in agreement of judgment with reality

**Final Architecture:**

10. **World-Self-Division (458)** - Final and absolute boundary between internal and external domains

11. **Sage-Structure (468)** - Total internal configuration of the Sage

12. **Prohairesis-Perfection (470)** - Ruling faculty operating with complete rational consistency

13. **Telos-Achievement (471)** - Complete realization of human purpose: virtue lived perfectly

**Pedagogical Note:** This tier is both foundation and culmination. It explains *why* the system works and *what* complete virtue looks like.