The Stoic Sage

Subtitled 'the early Stoics on wisdom, Sagehood and Socrates', this is a scholarly investigation of these themes starting from the two extant definitions that wisdom is knowledge of human and divine matters and fitting expertise (techne) within a framework of excellence or arete and applied to the three areas of nature, behaviour and reasoning - thus physical, ethical and logical. These definitions are examined in detail before moving on to consider the moment of becoming wise or what it means in terms of a radical change of state. The sage was thought to be a person with a stable knowledge of the true, but few Stoics claimed that status, which was thought to be rarer than the Phoenix. Another reason was the fact that they modelled themselves on Socrates, who strove for wisdom but never thought he had attained it - in this case how could anyone lay claim to the status? The author considers the characterisation of Socrates in some detail and also the fact that Epicurus did declare himself a sage (and anti-Socratic). Wisdom did not mean omniscience but rather a perfectly rational stable disposition. Eventually, this tradition gave way to Christianity with its very different conceptions. This book clarifies an important notion of the ancient world.