Zeno
of Citium was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium, Cyprus. He
was the son of a merchant and a student of Crates of Thebes, the
most famous Cynic living at that time in Greece. Zeno was, himself,
a merchant until the age of 42, when he started the Stoic school
of philosophy. Named for his teaching platform, the stoa ("stoa"
is Greek for "porch"), his teachings were the beginning
of Stoicism. None of Zeno's works have survived, but his teachings
have passed on, including his main concept that tranquility can
best be reached through indifference to pleasure and pain.
He
was described as haggard, tanned person living a spare, ascetic
life. This coincides with the influences of cynic teaching, and
is, at least in parts, continued in his stoic philosophy. Having
been companionable, the king, Antigonos of Macedonia, often abided
by him.
Zeno
is also the first utopian anarchist in the west and thus an important
precursor of the anarchism we know today. In The Crooked Timber
of Humanity, Isaiah Berlin describes Zeno's beliefs as follows
1.
Men are rational, they do not need control; rational beings have
no need of a state, or of money, or of law-courts, or of any organised,
institutional life. In the perfect society men and women shall
wear identical clothes and feed in a common pasture.
2. Diogenes Laërtius, biographer of the greek philosophers,
left the most extensive writings about Zeno's life with his work
Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Although these writings miss deeper
introspection into the philosophical ideas of Zeno, the anecdotical
descriptions leave a colorful image of the historical figure Zeno.
Zeno
preached that man conquers the world by conquering himself. By
developing an indifference to pain and pleasure through meditation,
the practicing stoic will develop a wisdom, stemming from having
control over the passions. He lectured his students on the value
of apatheia, which he explained to be the absence of passion.
Only by taking an attitude of controlling one's emotion and physical
desire, he felt, could we develop wisdom and the ability to apply
it.
Zeno
died around 264 BC. Laërtius reports about his death: "As
he left the school, he fell and broke a finger by hitting the
ground with his hand, at the same time shouting, with the words
of Niobe: "I am coming, why do you call me?".
During
his lifetime, Zeno received appreciation for his philosophical
and paedagogical teachings. Amongst other things, Zeno has been
honoured with the golden crown, and a tomb has been built for
his remains in honour of his moral influence on the youth.
There
is a crater on the Moon named in his honor.
Quotes (attributed)
"Steel
your sensibilities, so that life shall hurt you as little as possible."
"Follow
where reason leads."
"Better
to trip with the feet than with the tongue." (while drunk
on wine)
"We
have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we
say." |
