Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

THE
III. STOIC DOGMA
i. Physics and Doctrine of Being
'
main novelties or extensions of thought by
which Zeno effected his new synthesis were (i) the
identification of Reason in Man on the one hand with
the Reason of the Eternal One, on the other with the
principle of existence in all phenomenal things; and (2)
the idea of immanence.
Previous philosophers had from various sides ap-
proached the first affirmation, but none had 'given it
the breadth and actuality of meaning which it assumes
in the Stoic system. The doctrine of Anaxagoras, alike
in the name and conception of Nous, supplies a striking
anticipation and coincidence. But in the actual exposition
of his system Nous became little more than a
hypothesis to account for the first beginning and existence
of the Cosmos. It was assumed as a prime motor,
not realised as an efficient cause of being or of action.
All intermediate steps, including the origination of life,
animal or vegetable, were attributed to mechanical media.
Others among the physical philosophers, from Thales to
Democritus, had assigned to Mind (in one phase or
another) a place among the elements ; and at times the