Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.91 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.91
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
These are called non-intellectual, because they do not require the mind’s assent; they supervene and they occur even in bad men: for instance, health, courage. The proof, says Posidonius in the first book of his treatise on Ethics, that virtue really exists is the fact that Socrates, Diogenes, and Antisthenes and their followers made moral progress. And for the existence of vice as a fundamental fact the proof is that it is the opposite of virtue. That it, virtue, can be taught is laid down by Chrysippus in the first book of his work On the End, by Cleanthes, by Posidonius in his Protreptica, and by Hecato; that it can be taught is clear from the case of bad men becoming good.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.91 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.91
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book VII, tr. R. D. Hicks (Loeb, 1925). Text: Perseus Digital Library (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesNon-intellectual virtues like health and courage can show up even in bad people, since they need no mental agreement. Evidence that real virtue exists is that Socrates, Diogenes and others made moral progress, and the Stoics hold that virtue can be taught because bad people sometimes become good.
Older wording
- “supervene”
- — come about alongside without being chosen
- “assent”
- — agreement or acceptance by the mind
- “Protreptica”
- — writings that urge people to take up philosophy
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Learning and progress
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