Ah, back to Stoicism! I have only read the first few chapters, but it is as refreshing as I imagined.
The philosophical curriculum - Stoicism is divided into three parts: logic, physics, and ethics. Most Stoics put them in that order of precedence, not necessarily in the order of importance, but rather in the recommended course of study. I disagree somewhat with the order of the last two, but logic at the fore is indisputable. The many subsets of philosophy fit in to one or more of those departments. I took issue with Seneca referring to philosophy as the only 'pure' undertaking; he labelled mathematics as requiring hypotheses. I disagree - I would call them both pure, though mathematics could be seen as the purest form of physical or natural philosophy. Finally, I was very confused with Stobaeus' remarks on the value of 'pursuits', or intellectual activities and values that are not virtue. These include literature and music, which he claims are valuable assets of the Stoic sage. I am not sure how or why they are valued as such.
Existence - Everything subsists. That is, anything which is 'something' can be said to 'be'. However, not everything exists. Only corporeals exist. This is important, because Stoics separated the spectrum of everything (something) into incorporeals, body, and neither. There are only four incorporeals, but I would include many more if I was rewriting this section. I will wait to see how the Stoics develop their argument, though.
The philosophical curriculum - Stoicism is divided into three parts: logic, physics, and ethics. Most Stoics put them in that order of precedence, not necessarily in the order of importance, but rather in the recommended course of study. I disagree somewhat with the order of the last two, but logic at the fore is indisputable. The many subsets of philosophy fit in to one or more of those departments. I took issue with Seneca referring to philosophy as the only 'pure' undertaking; he labelled mathematics as requiring hypotheses. I disagree - I would call them both pure, though mathematics could be seen as the purest form of physical or natural philosophy. Finally, I was very confused with Stobaeus' remarks on the value of 'pursuits', or intellectual activities and values that are not virtue. These include literature and music, which he claims are valuable assets of the Stoic sage. I am not sure how or why they are valued as such.
Existence - Everything subsists. That is, anything which is 'something' can be said to 'be'. However, not everything exists. Only corporeals exist. This is important, because Stoics separated the spectrum of everything (something) into incorporeals, body, and neither. There are only four incorporeals, but I would include many more if I was rewriting this section. I will wait to see how the Stoics develop their argument, though.
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