St. George Stock (modern guide) · 1850–1922
A Guide to Stoicism 6 ¶11 — St. George Stock (modern guide)
From “Conclusion”
Original English text (1908)
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 6 ¶11
The philosophy of an age cannot perhaps be inferred from its political conditions with that certainty which some writers assume; still there are cases in which the connection is obvious. On a wide view of the matter we may say that the opening up of the East by the arms of Alexander was the cause of the shifting of the philosophic standpoint from Hellenism to cosmopolitanism. If we reflect that the Cynic and Stoic teachers were mostly foreigners in Greece we shall find a very tangible reason for the change of view. Greece had done her work in educating the world and the world was beginning to make payment in kind. Those who had been branded as natural slaves were now giving laws to philosophy. The kingdom of wisdom was suffering violence at the hands of barbarians.
Cite this passage
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 6 ¶11 (1908)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/a-guide-to-stoicism/6.11
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 author links the rise of cosmopolitan thinking to the opening up of the East under Alexander and to the fact that many Cynic and Stoic teachers were foreigners in Greece. Those once dismissed as natural slaves were now laying down the law in philosophy.
Older wording
- “Hellenism”
- — Greek culture and outlook
- “payment in kind”
- — repayment with the same sort of thing
Themes and situations
- Community and our duty to others
- Learning and progress
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