In response to the question ‘What is virtue?’, Seneca says “a true and immovable judgment” (Letter 71.32; tr. Inwood).1
Today we pivot from Aristotle in ancient Greece, to the heirs of all Greeks wisdom—the Romans.
While Stoicism has its roots in the foundational language and concepts that came from the ancient Hellenistic schools of thought, it would blossom as a stand alone philosophy in and under Roman rule. This of course helped tremendously by the Philosopher King himself, Marcus Aurelius.
Another pillar of Stoic thought who lived in 1st Century Rome was a man by the name of Seneca. He had a vibrant—if not paradoxical—political career finding himself a trusted advisor for many in power, including the infamous Nero.
By some accounts, he was one of the wealthiest and most influential people of Rome in his day.
It isn’t surprising then, that his favored philosophy would become so popular among the Romans.
Seneca was known to live in two worlds, shall we say. He was known to be a rash, belligerent, if not conniving political survivor. But he also penned a sort of character for himself on the page.2
In his writings, he would write as if he was the man he wanted to be, not the man he actually was.
In a similar fashion, he was known to take time once or twice a year to leave his wealth and live simply, mirroring those of lower classes. It appears he did this so as not to grow too attached to his status.
Those in other classes were, of course, a bit offended by this gesture as he would quickly return to his life luxury built upon rigid inequalities he perpetuated and profited from.
But this type of paradox, struggle, and pursuit is exactly what Stoicism was all about—regardless of the manner in which it was pursued.
Seneca perpetuated the idea that morality was found in seeking a good and full life—much like Aristotle and the countless philosophers who came between them.
If you remember where we left off with Aristotle, we found a moral life was a complete life, found through virtue—virtue being a life of philosophy. Philosophy was an intentional pursuit of self-knowledge through rational reflection.
Seneca (and other Stoics for that matter) clarify and define the habits of “rational” a bit further—i.e the quote above.
Seneca here adds another layer to our cake. He posits that to be rational is to acquire and leverage good “judgement.”
And so what is judgement?
Let’s conclude on this thought with a line by one of my favorite Stoic philosophers of all time,
What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgements about the things. For example, death is nothing dreadful (or else it would have appeared dreadful to Socrates), but instead the judgement about death that it is dreadful—that is what is dreadful. So when we are upset or distressed, let us never blame someone else but rather ourselves, that is, our own judgements.
—Epictetus
The core bedrock of a good life then, is the ability to make accurate and helpful judgements through observation.
To put it another way: the good life is one based upon mindfulness.
Woah.
Friend, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
Until tomorrow, here’s to being mindful!
Matt
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/seneca/#AppCorAct
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/#Eth
I DID enjoy this one! Thank you, Matt! I look forward to learning more about Stoicism!