A New Stoicism

There has been quite a revival of Stoicism in the last few years as a form of ethical naturalism. The author asks the interesting question of what stoic ethics would look like in the light of modern philosophy and science, which this book proceeds to answer by restating and defending the main tenets of Stoicism. A key theme is the inseparability of virtue and happiness (eudaimonia or flourishing). He shows how stoic ethics can get from the descriptive "is" to the moral "ought" with virtue as a controlling hypothetical imperative and morality as a system of such imperatives. The exposition is systematic and quite technical, with a commentary at the end of each major chapter. As one might expect from ethical naturalism, the author buys into the materialistic and outer perspective of science depicting an indifferent universe in which we are and insignificant chance occurrence. This ignores the corresponding inner perspective experienced by many mystics and spiritual practitioners and noted by Pascal with his characterisation of humans as thinking reeds (roseau pensant). The author also makes no mention of the rise of the character movement drawing on virtue ethics. However, within its own parameters, this is a rigorous and sophisticated statement.