Socratic Ignorance and Ethics in the Stoa

Abstract

In this chapter I develop the line of thought that the early Stoics exploited the Socratic tradition in order to present Socrates as more than just a skeptical thinker, such that in following him they were able to develop their doctrinal ethics. I focus on three of Socrates’ unusual convictions or “paradoxes”: “virtue is knowledge” or “all virtues are interconnected,” and his disavowal of knowledge. Like Socrates, the Stoics considered virtue to be the most important topic in the study of human conduct, discussing virtue in terms of knowledge. Just as for Socrates, for the Stoics the virtues are not one, but interrelated. Like Socrates, they did not consider themselves to be virtuous or have the infallible disposition of knowledge, out of which they could always act perfectly.