The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

which
"
i8
THE STOIC CREED
designates our common nature, thereby giving
truth
for all and absolute nescience
") ;
or universal scepticism
is suicidal even in proclaiming that truth is unattain
able, the sceptic assumes the truth of reason, its trust
worthiness as destructive of itself",
Thus Socrates virtually enunciated the
is absurd. 1
principle that
lies at the root of epistemology, and may claim to have
placed metaphysics on a stable foundation.
That, then, was what gave Socrates his position and
marked him off from the Sophists (strictly so called),
separating him from them in spirit and in aim alike,
as also in the conclusions reached, and what gives
him his distinctive importance in the history of human
thought. His influence on the Stoic teaching, more
especially on its ethical side, will be apparent as we
proceed. Meanwhile, as the personal character of
Socrates counts for much, owing not only to the nobility
of his death but also to the energy and nobility of his
life, this chapter may fitly end with a passage from
Xenophon s Memorabilia, characterizing
the Socrates
whom he knew so well. For if it be so that the
Memorabilia was the book that first drew Zeno to the
study of philosophy, the picture of Socrates that we
there find may very well be credited with having
aroused, to some extent at least, his regard for the
master, and may serve to suggest to us how the Stoics
1
For modern presentations of the doctrine of the relativity of
knowledge, see Hume (A Treatise of Human Nature], Hamilton
(Metaphysics and Discussions), J. S. Mill (An Examination of
Sir William Hamilton s Philosophy), Herbert Spencer (First
Principles).