What are the criticism of stoicism philosophy?

Answer 1

There are three main criticisms of Stoicism; 1) a logical difficulty involving the ideas of freedom and predestination 2) the idea of indifference has consequnces which seem paradoxical to common sense, 3) the fact that stoicism appeals only in unusual circustances; thus cannot be accepted as a universal ethic. Firstly, Stoics believe that everything in life is predetermined by a divine beeing or God or fate; thus everything ranging from the decision to go to the toilet, or to go to the park, or thinking about food during a meeting or to murder a person are all actions or evnts which had already peen predestined by some devine beeing. Therefore, if these events were destined to occur, then there is nothing which can be done to alter them. Thus, humans are not 'free' but rather chained to a destiny created by a divine plan. This is inconsistent with the stoic view as they believ that a person can alter their charachter. According to stoicism, a person can learn to become indifferent to things which had once been an important aspect of their lives. Thus, the stoics are implying, that humans are free to alteir their charachter; thus man is both free and not free. is we accept the latter then it is pointless to tell a person to change ones character, because if a charachter is already predetermined then how can it be changed? Contrary to this, if we are free to alter our charachters then the whole thory that everything is predetermined must be false!!! Secondly, the theory of indifference is oten rejcted by people of common sense. This is because if something bad were to happen, for example a friend were to die, then the idea that indifferenc were the best way to deal with the situation would seem rather caluous. Furthemore, if one were to attain an indifferent stance to allt hings around them, then acts which would have once seemed immoral would b accepted if treated with indifference such as murder. Thirdly; stoicism gives advice for people living through harsh conditions rather than those in prosperous ones. It provides advice on how to avoid bein affecte dby d situations; however, it would be ashame not to allow oneself to become affected by frienship, love and so on. There are three main criticisms of Stoicism; 1) a logical difficulty involving the ideas of freedom and predestination 2) the idea of indifference has consequnces which seem paradoxical to common sense, 3) the fact that stoicism appeals only in unusual circustances; thus cannot be accepted as a universal ethic. Firstly, Stoics believe that everything in life is predetermined by a divine beeing or God or fate; thus everything ranging from the decision to go to the toilet, or to go to the park, or thinking about food during a meeting or to murder a person are all actions or evnts which had already peen predestined by some devine beeing. Therefore, if these events were destined to occur, then there is nothing which can be done to alter them. Thus, humans are not 'free' but rather chained to a destiny created by a divine plan. This is inconsistent with the stoic view as they believ that a person can alter their charachter. According to stoicism, a person can learn to become indifferent to things which had once been an important aspect of their lives. Thus, the stoics are implying, that humans are free to alteir their charachter; thus man is both free and not free. is we accept the latter then it is pointless to tell a person to change ones character, because if a charachter is already predetermined then how can it be changed? Contrary to this, if we are free to alter our charachters then the whole thory that everything is predetermined must be false!!! Secondly, the theory of indifference is oten rejcted by people of common sense. This is because if something bad were to happen, for example a friend were to die, then the idea that indifferenc were the best way to deal with the situation would seem rather caluous. Furthemore, if one were to attain an indifferent stance to allt hings around them, then acts which would have once seemed immoral would b accepted if treated with indifference such as murder. Thirdly; stoicism gives advice for people living through harsh conditions rather than those in prosperous ones. It provides advice on how to avoid bein affecte dby d situations; however, it would be ashame not to allow oneself to become affected by frienship, love and so on.