Abstract
Stoicism celebrates the power of thinking and recognizes human equality. Unrelentingly disjunctive, stoicism reinvents humans, detaching what I control from what I cannot control—mind from nature. Everything is forced into two slots. Freedom and necessity are opposites but not in opposition. Stoic vision is split like the whale’s: what is right in front of me—that over which I exercise some control—lies in a blind spot. Splitting self from nature is a phenomenological misstep. Stoic judgment reflects nature. But mirroring is not judging; judging identifies relevant differences. Between mind’s austere freedom and nature’s necessity, there is no room for action. Virtues are arbitrary when severed from externals. Be prepared is appealing advice, but stoics believe our worldly projects do not matter. A passion is either under our control or it must be uprooted. I remain tranquil, purrs the sage; let the world go its way.