Zeno of Citium

[Guess...t]

I'm just curious if anyone knows anything about the philosopher Zeno of Citium? I checked on wikipedia and it said he practically pioneered utopian anarchism. Seems pretty interesting to me.

[d-e-f-i-a-n-c-e]

Zeno of Citium (flourished late 4th and early 3rd century bc), Greek philosopher, founder of Stoicism. He was born in Citium, Cyprus. Little is known of his early life except that his contemporaries referred to him as a Phoenician. He was a student of the 4th century bc Cynic philosopher Crates of Thebes and of the Platonist Xenocrates. About 300 bc, Zeno founded his own school of philosophy, known as Stoicism. The name of the school was derived from Stoa Poikilē (“painted porch”), the name given to the public portico where the master taught his disciples. Moral obligation, self-control, and living in harmony with nature were some of the principles of practical ethics with which Zeno was chiefly concerned. He taught in Athens for more than 50 years and was publicly honored for his upright manner of living. It is said, however, that he refused the offer of Athenian citizenship out of loyalty to his native Cyprus. Zeno left no written accounts of his teachings, but they were transmitted by his many disciples.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2005. © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

That's all i could find....

[d-e-f-i-a-n-c-e]

oh..and a little about Stoicism

Stoicism was the most influential philosophy in the Roman Empire during the period preceding the rise of Christianity. The Stoics, like the Epicureans, emphasized ethics as the main field of knowledge, but they also developed theories of logic and natural science to support their ethical doctrines. Their most important contribution to logic was the discovery of the hypothetical syllogism. They held that all reality is material, but that matter proper, which is passive, is to be distinguished from the animating or active principle, Logos, which they conceived as both the divine reason and as simply a finer kind of material entity, an all-pervading breath or fire, such as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus had supposed the cosmic principle to be. According to them the human soul is a manifestation of the Logos. Living according to nature or reason, they held, is living in conformity with the divine order of the universe. The importance of this view is seen in the part that Stoicism played in developing a theory of natural law that powerfully affected Roman jurisprudence.

The foundation of Stoic ethics is the principle, proclaimed earlier by the Cynics, that good lies not in external objects, but in the state of the soul itself, in the wisdom and restraint by which a person is delivered from the passions and desires that perturb the ordinary life. The four cardinal virtues of the Stoic philosophy are wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance, a classification derived from the teachings of Plato.

A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism. All people are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should, according to the Stoics, live in brotherly love and readily help one another. They held that external differences such as rank and wealth are of no importance in social relationships. Thus, before the rise of Christianity, Stoics recognized and advocated the brotherhood of humanity and the natural equality of all human beings.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2005. © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.