The Stoic Sage
| “ | It is the view of Zeno and his Stoic followers that there are two races of men, that of the worthwhile, and that of the worthless. The race of the worthwhile employ the virtues through all of their lives, while the race of the worthless employ the vices. Hence the worthwhile always do the right thing on which they embark, while the worthless do wrong. | ” |
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—Arius Didymus |
The Stoics conceived of the sage as an individual beyond any possibility of harm from fate. The life difficulties faced by other humans (illness, poverty, criticism and bad reputation, death, etc.) could not cause a sage any sorrow, and the life circumstances sought by other people (good health, wealth, praise and fame, long life, etc.) were regarded by the Stoic sage as unnecessary externals. The Stoics thought of the sage as an agent unaffected by life circumstances, whose happiness (eudaimonia) is based entirely on virtue.
This invulnerability to harm from externals is achieved by the sage through knowledge, based on the right use of impressions. The right use of impressions is a core concept in Stoic epistemology.
The Stoics regarded the sage, the truly wise man, as rare, and few (if any) examples of actual sages who had lived were ever named. Despite that, the Stoics regarded sages as the only virtuous and happy humans. All others are regarded as fools, morally vicious, slaves and unfortunate. The Stoics did not admit any middle ground between sages and non-sages: one is either a sage or a fool. Cicero wrote that, according to the Stoics, "every non-sage is mad."
Read more about this topic: Sage (Sophos)
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