In this issue, Greg Sadler poses an interesting question. Why is it, in many Stoic forums, people ask questions like 

• Is Batman Stoic? 
• Is Donald Trump Stoic? 
• Is Mickey Mouse Stoic? 
• Is feminism Stoic? 
• Is traveling around the world Stoic? 

When I read such questions I always wonder—why do we expect people we do not know, whose expertise we are not familiar with, whose biases we are not aware of, to answer such questions better than we could ourselves if we put our mindS to it? Why do we even want to know? How does it matter? Before asking such questions of strangers, maybe we should ask ourselves the question, 

Are mindless questions Stoic? 

Occasionally apparently mindless questions can make sense. This happens when the questioner has thought through something and, perhaps puzzled by what they find, invites other people to chime in. 

But most of the time, it seems to me, such questions are mindless parlour games, an attempt to outsource our thinking to anonymous strangers. There is no indication why the questioner is posing the question and how it would help if someone took the time to answer. 

Why are we so quick TO spew out whatever comes to our mind without first thinking about it? I don’t mean to imply that we can always be confident of our knowledge and no one can teach us anything. But if we are not sure, shouldn’t we be seeking out someone who knows better? If we ask anonymous strangers, how can we know they know any better than us? How can we know we are not being misled? 

Trivial pursuits have always been fun and I don’t expect Stoics to be exempt from them. An occasional trivial question may even be good. But should we feast on inanities? 

We can perhaps moderate our desire to be inane. But how do we do this? 

Greg Sadler suggests asking yourself three questions:

1. Why do we want to know this?
2. Is the time and energy involved in answering the question worth the effort? and,
3. How compatible is this matter with Stoicism? 

In other words, give some thought to your question and its relevance before posing it. Think about what you are asking and why. 

If we look at thoughtful Stoics, we will see that they not only pose the question but they try to answer it too. That’s what our contributors have done in this issue. 

• Are Thomas Jefferson’s ten rules Stoic? What do the Stoics say? (Donald Robertson) 
• Is being political Stoic? How do Stoic virtues relate to sustainability? (Kai Whiting) 
• Is ignoring violence Stoic? If not, what should Stoics do about it? (Meredith Kunz) 
• Is getting stuck on Channel C(razy) Stoic? Prescriptions for anxiety. (Sharon Labell). 

Our contributors pose the questions about Stoicism. But, instead of outsourcing their responsibility to think, they provide thoughtful answers to the issues they raise. 

“What is Stoic?” may be a difficult question to answer. But what is not Stoic is clear: Asking mindless questions because we are too lazy to think for ourselves. 

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Dr. Chuck Chakrapani Editor-in-Chief

 

 

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