Submitted by BernardJOrtcutt t3_zpscvb in philosophy
scyther13 t1_j0x5nic wrote
Reply to comment by pgslaflame in /r/philosophy Open Discussion Thread | December 19, 2022 by BernardJOrtcutt
I agree with what you're saying but the thing that bothers me is that stoicism is hard to practice correct me if i am wrong how i understand stoicism is we should not care and worry about the things which we can't control but how do we distinguish the things that we can control or not . What if i start not caring for things that matter.
pgslaflame t1_j0ygmu5 wrote
Nothing matters, just as everything. What comes to you comes to you. Stoicism believes In determinism, the choices you’ll make are the ones that you’re supposed to make and there is no right or wrong about it (the physics).
But since stoics do believe in a chain of cause and effect and logic should be used to predict it. But not to your own good, the ideal teaches altruism. You have (conditional) control about the decisions you make, not about the causal chain though.
“When someone throws a roller onto an inclined plane, he does indeed provide the external impetus for movement; but the actual cause of the roller rolling down lies in its shape, that is, in its own essence”
You can’t predict the future. Maybe you’ll regret no matter what you do.
So back to your example with the liver transplant. Stoic ideal would say to give the money away for the good of society. But you also need to accept that you aren’t the stoic ideal, you are selfish and maybe will regret your decisions. So before thinking about “what would a stoic do in this situation” the focus should be on becoming a stoic? I’m not an expert tho so take what I said with a grain of salt.
scyther13 t1_j0yje91 wrote
Okay i think i am able to understand it somewhat, what i see now is we can somewhat worry about the "what if's" of future but to worry about the "what if's" of past has no point as we can't control it and can't be changed.
And thanks for the time to explain it to my dummy dumb brain
pgslaflame t1_j0yl3vz wrote
Nono, worry=selfish sensation=Nono in stoicism :D. Only reason.
You’re welcome, I’m also an amateur at best so I hope I was able to help.
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