It’s hard to be an academic who specializes in Stoicism. Because the philosophy is so complex? On the contrary. Stoicism is a difficult choice for tenure because it’s so simple. The Stoics say what they mean and they say it clearly.
Sometimes they say it so succinctly it can fit on an index card...or a single line on an index card.
Epictetus: “It’s not things that upset us, it’s our judgement about things.”
Marcus Aurelius: “The fruit of this life is good character and acts for the common good.”
Seneca: “It’s not that life is short, it’s that we waste a lot of it.”
You can, as we have, summarize the entire philosophy in one sentence: A Stoic believes they don’t control the world around them, only how they respond—and that they must always respond with courage, temperance, wisdom, and justice.
This is a good thing (though maybe not so good if you want to make a name for yourself as a genius expert). Epictetus once joked to some students who were proudly talking about having digested the works of the least straightforward Stoic, Chrysippus: you know if Chrysippus had been a better writer, you’d have nothing to brag about.
The Stoics are simple because they got to the truth of things, and the core truths of life are simple. They said what they meant. They didn’t beat around the bush. They didn’t care about impressing people.
And in this, they taught us one more lesson.
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