What Stoicism Is Designed To Do
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Sharon Lebell gives a great explanation of what Stoicism is designed to do in her reimagined enchiridion.
“Philosophy’s purpose,” she writes, “is to illuminate the ways our soul has been infected by unsound beliefs, untrained tumultuous desires, and dubious life choices and preferences that are unworthy of us. Self-scrutiny applied with kindness is the main antidote.”
Philosophy is defined as a love of wisdom, and one cannot be wise when infected by false beliefs and delusions.
Lebell’s definition would have been accepted by the French philosopher Diderot, another fan of the Stoics, who viewed fanaticism based on unsound beliefs as the chief evil of the world. He thought it causes civil and religious strife of all kinds, and drives men to ruin themselves and their communities.
“The only remedy for this epidemic malady,” he said, “is the philosophical spirit which, spread gradually, at last tames men's habits and prevents the disease from starting.”