Stoicism is the name of a comprehensive philosophical
system inaugurated at Athens by Zeno of Citium in
the last years of the fourth century B.C. The system
was divided for the purposes of exposition into three
subjects: physics, logic, and ethics; but between these
there is a fundamental connection which makes
Stoicism an organic unity, a philosophy of rational
coherence. The ethical goal is life in accordance with
nature, physis, and this is achieved by consistently
rational or “logical” action (kata logon zēn). Physics,
or the understanding of nature, provides the field of
morality with its values; logic grasps the relationship
between statements and events, which enables man to
articulate nature for himself and plan his life accord-
ingly. The significance of such familiar Stoic attitudes
as uncomplaining endurance of hardship and inflexible
will cannot be adequately grasped without reference
to their physical and logical basis.
