4inchSoul

A New Sage

Fri, 01 May 2026 19:31:01 -0500

Is the sage ever mentioned during a Stoic's elevator pitch?

My first thought is that it does not influence any other ideas; it shows you when your other ideas are absurd.

Fixing a broken sage is possibly easier than rebuilding Stoic ethics from the ground up.

The sage is a hypothetical Stoic that gets everything right. Let's list all the attributes that come to mind.

The sage:

is perfectly virtuous
has no vices
experiences no passions (except eupatheia)
is indifferent to externals
has no opinions
does not necessarily know everything but does not give assent to any incorrect impressions

Certainty is impossible and the Sage certainly knows this.

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:01:22 -0500

This is a personal exploration of modern Stoicism – and attempt to organize and/or deconstruct ideas that have been floating around.

Expect chaos.

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:12:10 -0500

(This only applies to my own practice AFAIK)

oikeiosis
no preferred or dispreferred indifferents
duty can be invoked for everything that we "select"
pleasure is a duty to self
cannot treat other stoics as if they only value their "will"
assent, impulse, desire are only things of value and most important for daily practice
all of the stoic exercises can be tied to secondary virtues
all of the secondary virtues can be tied to at least 1 cardinal virtue
we have a "duty" to "progress in virtue" rather than seek it for its own sake
understanding our roles gives direction to virtue

what does the new sage look like?
what is our motivation to progress (assuming sage-hood is impossible)? is it duty?
how does one re-build a (nearly) complete philosophy. It cannot be done in a postmodern world. We will never have a believable grand

narrative again.

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:55:35 -0500

In other words, a happy life comes from what you are, not what you have.

Is it possible for a prokopton to have a taste of virtue or is it an all-or-nothing attribute of the sage?
Can a "real" sage ever attain virtue given that katleptic impressions are impossible?
If you actually want virtue, you will pursue it. Otherwise, it is only an aspiration.
If you could choose your child's fate, virtue vs pleasure, would you choose virtue? Even if it meant experiencing (a perfectly indifferent) torture?
If happiness != pleasure, is it being redefined specifically to allow for virtue? Is "satisfaction" just a synonym for happiness?

Updates are being made to this document directly.
No change log is being kept.