St. George Stock (modern guide) · 1850–1922
A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶32 — St. George Stock (modern guide)
From “Ethic”
Original English text (1908)
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶32
The word "duty" is often employed to translate the Greek term which we are rendering by "propriety." Any translation is no more than a choice of evils, since we have no real equivalent for the term. It was applicable not merely to human conduct, but also to the acting of the lower animals, and even to the growth of plants. Now, apart from a craze of generalization we should hardly think of the "stern daughter of the voice of God" in connection with an amoeba corresponding successfully to stimulus, yet the creature in its inchoate way is exhibiting a dim analogy to duty. The term in question was first used by Zeno, and was explained by him, in accordance with its etymology, to mean what it came to one to do, so that as far as this goes, 'becomingness' would be the most appropriate translation.
Cite this passage
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶32 (1908)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/a-guide-to-stoicism/4.32
St. George Stock, Stoicism (1908), text of the Haldeman-Julius reprint “A Guide to Stoicism”. Text: Project Gutenberg #7514. Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesThe Greek word usually translated as duty has no good English equivalent, because it covered what is fitting for animals and plants as well as for people. Zeno coined it from a word meaning what comes to one to do, so something like what is fitting is the nearest sense.
Older wording
- “propriety”
- — fitting or appropriate conduct
- “inchoate”
- — only just beginning to take shape
- “becomingness”
- — fittingness
Themes and situations
- Duty and roles
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