Stoicism vs. stoicism

There’s a suspicion about those of us interested in Stoicism: We aim to suppress our emotions so that we exist in some state of flatness. By eradicating feelings, the – argument suggests, we would be content – if “content” isn’t too dangerously emotional a description – to take on a kind of statuesque demeanour. Never too high, never too low: flat.

This is incorrect. Our misfortune in being subjected to these claims is the difference between an uppercase and a lowercase letter. In other words, Stoicism is not stoicism.

The former is an ancient philosophy, the latter a mere “stiff-upper-lip” coping style.

Stoicism is about understanding our emotions

Our Stoicism is about understanding our emotions. It’s about examining the beliefs that gave rise to them. Then we can try to better align these beliefs with reality by rationally changing them instead of suppressing them.

We’re not trying to use brute force to remove our emotions – we’re using our cognitive ability to get to the root cause of them and adjust our way of thinking as appropriate. This can help us minimize our negative emotions.

The ancient Stoics referred to emotional suffering – including anger, fear, grief, and distress – as “passions.” They saw passions as judgments based on false beliefs.

Donald Robertson explains it this way in The Philosophy of CBT:

The Stoic feels rational positive and negative emotions and defines the “passions” from which he seeks to free himself as “faulty judgments manifested in ‘excessive’ or ‘irrational’ impulses”.

We feel upset when we judge that something bad is happening. The Stoic remedy for such strong emotion, then, is to correct our judgments.

Dangers of strong emotions

As the 17th-century French moralist La Rochefoucauld wrote in his Maximes, everyone is susceptible to the dangers of these strong emotions: Passion very often makes the wisest men fools, and very often inspires the greatest fools with wit.

Passions were problematic to the Stoics not only because they can mess with our ability to think rationally and stay on the path of virtue, but also because they stem from false beliefs about the true worth of things.

A passion is only ever the result of frustrated desire or ineffective aversion. This is the domain that entails mental turmoil, confusion, wretchedness, misery, sorrow, grief, and fear, and which makes us envious and jealous, until we can’t even to listen to reason. - Epictetus, Discourses, 3.2.3

The practical takeaway for us if we’re to prevent or quell the passions is to remember that strong emotions are like hasty agreements with mistaken ideas.

In a nutshell, the passions – anger, fear, envy, anxiety, even grief – are judgments we make about what's important, even though they relate to things that the Stoics would class as indifferent or outside our control.
So when we feel strong negative emotions begin to rise up, we’re desiring something that isn’t truly good (virtue) or trying to avoid something that isn’t truly bad (vice).

With this knowledge, we can pair the further warning of La Rochefoucauld as we continue to pay attention to what we consider to be good and bad:

There is in the passions such a constant tendency to private interest and injustice, that it is dangerous to be guided by them. And indeed, we should not dare to trust them, even then when they appear most fair and reasonable.

What about positive emotions?

If negative emotions should be processed rather than suppressed, what should an aspiring Stoic do with positive emotions? In short, we should feel them!

In The Stoicism Workbook, Kasey Pierce, R. Trent Codd, and Scott Waltman give us an excellent description of what Stoicism – the philosophy – actually is:

True Stoicism doesn’t aim for an emotionless life where we’re disconnected from everything and feel nothing. In fact, the ancient Stoics wouldn’t be in favour of this approach at all. Rather, the ability to not act on snap judgments or initial potentially erroneous impressions is the point.

It’s not a philosophy of non-reaction. It’s not about removing the range of emotions that being human gives us the opportunity to experience.

The goal, which is available to us all, is to feel our feelings but not be controlled by them.

By practicing Stoicism, we aren’t seeking to become unfeeling. We’re seeking to become people who can see things for what they are and prefer things that are genuinely in our best interests over things that are appealing but ultimately harmful.

Then we’ll experience more joy, courage, friendship, and love—and less fear, frustration, anger, and anxiety.

Over the past ten years, Allan John has developed a deep interest in Stoicism, as a means of self-improvement and connecting with others. He shares Stoic insights through writing and podcasts at whatisstoicism.com and on Substack at whatisstoicism.substack.com.

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