Here is your great soul – the man who has given himself over to Fate; on the other hand,
that man is a weakling and a degenerate who struggles and maligns the order of the universe
and would rather reform the gods than reform himself.
Imagine a society where everything runs smoothly and harmoniously.
People work together, support each other, and there’s peace and prosperity aside from
some minor frictions.
But throughout the years, the values at the core of this society’s success begin to
fade.
People become increasingly unhappy, violent, hostile towards one another, and love and
compassion disappear.
This society is now in decline; it’s going through a phase of degeneracy.
Similarly, individual people can degenerate as well.
The noun “degenerate” is commonly used to describe someone who has lost certain qualities
which one considers preferable.
Some forms of degeneracy are natural and unavoidable, like aging and death.
But other forms are a consequence of choice, like how we treat our bodies and minds.
In this case, “degeneracy” refers to moral decline and the erosion of values like honesty,
integrity, and restraint.
From this viewpoint, a ‘degenerate’ moves below the threshold of an optimal moral state,
whatever it may be.
The problem with calling someone or something morally “degenerate” is that it’s often
a subjective matter.
For example, for someone with very rigid morals and values, most people probably pass for
degenerates.
But for someone who’s very loose and open-minded, degeneracy may appear much more scarce or
in a completely different manner.
So, morals are often a matter of taste.
The ancient Stoics based their morals on reason.
They created an ethical system that focuses on living in agreement with nature, or, a
universal rational principle.
Stoic ethics distinguish virtues from vices, seeing a life of virtue as the optimal way
to live.
From the Stoic point of view, someone who lives a life of vice can be considered a degenerate.
This video explores a couple of examples from Stoic literature on how the ancient Stoics
saw degeneracy or, put differently, a bad and sub-par way of life leading to unhappiness.
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A Stoic’s main goal is to live in agreement with nature.
Living according to nature has nothing to do with nature religions, living off-grid,
or engaging in primitivism.
The Stoics believed that the universe is rational: all events happen according to a well-organized
scheme, designed by an impersonal higher power, commonly referred to as Zeus.
Zeus created the universe and its living beings with distinct characteristics and unique relationships
to the environment.
Humans, the Stoics observed, distinguish themselves from other living beings by the faculty of
reason.
Because the universe is based on reason, human beings, therefore, have a taste of the divine,
as they’re able to determine the cosmic order using their intelligence and rationally
decide the optimal way to live.
So, to flourish, the Stoics believed we should live in agreement with our nature, nature
around us, and fate, all of which are part of Zeus’ plan.
If one doesn’t live in accordance with nature, this person lives a morally degenerate existence
of vice.
As this all still sounds pretty vague, the Stoics created a system of virtue, subdivided
into four cardinal virtues: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation.
An opposing system of vice can be subdivided into foolishness, injustice, cowardice, and
intemperance.
The following part explores some interesting and telling examples of degeneracy from a
Stoic ethical viewpoint.
(1) Fighting fate
Trying to control fate is like building sandcastles on the beach, expecting the sea not to destroy
them.
Yet, we wish for things to happen as we want them to happen, and thus we’re disappointed
when Fate provides us with an unwanted outcome.
And so we cry when we lose our jobs, we get angry when someone takes what we believe is
ours, and we weep when those we love pass away.
But through any resistance or disagreement with the way things happen, we oppose what
Seneca called the “Universal Will.”
We dispute the inevitable by opposing the divine plan forged by Zeus.
We challenge the Gods, so to speak, and that we’ll always lose.
The quote at the beginning of this video is from a letter by Seneca to his friend Lucilius.
At the end of this letter, he points out that a degenerate tries to “reform the Gods,
rather than reform himself.”
Reforming the Gods is an impossible task, and we end up disappointed when we try.
We can only control our attitude towards them, which, according to the Stoics, should be
our primary focus.
Nevertheless, many people spend their lives fighting a losing battle, which is foolish
and foolishness is a Stoic vice: why fight a battle we can never win?
The opposing virtue of foolishness is wisdom.
Seneca provides us with a more “wise” approach towards fate, and I quote:
It is to this law that our souls must adjust themselves, this they should follow, this
they should obey.
Whatever happens, assume that it was bound to happen, and do not be willing to rail at
Nature.
That which you cannot reform, it is best to endure, and to attend uncomplainingly upon
the God under whose guidance everything progresses; for it is a bad soldier who grumbles when
following his commander.
(2) The man who cheated
One day, in the ancient Greek city of Nicopolis, a scholar visited one of Epictetus’ lectures,
where he confessed that he cheated on his wife.
Quite harshly, Epictetus criticized the man’s behavior by telling him the consequences of
not being trustworthy.
He stated that we’re not just throwing away our “self-respect,” “piety,” and “fidelity”
by adultery.
We also ruin social cohesion and overthrow the state.
Epictetus then asks him how he should treat him: as a neighbour?
As a friend?
What confidence is he to place in him?
I quote:
And who is going to trust you?
Are you not willing, therefore, that you too should be cast forth upon some dunghill as
a useless vessel, as a piece of dung?
For all that will you say, “Nobody cares for me, a scholar!?”
No, for you are an evil man, and useless.
It is just as if the wasps complained that nobody cares for them, but all run away from
them, and, if anyone can, he strikes them and knocks them down.
You have such a sting that you involve in trouble and pain whomever you strike.
What do you want us to do with you?
There is no place where you can be put.
End quote.
“Justice” is a Stoic cardinal virtue, which the Stoics subdivide into piety, honesty,
equity, and fair dealing.
What Epictetus seems to demonstrate are the consequences of not being just.
When there’s no justice, society crumbles.
If citizens cannot trust each other, how can a country thrive?
And if you aren’t trustworthy, of what use are you for the whole?
The Stoic way of handling infidelity seems delicate.
From the receiving end, if someone cheats on you, it’s just another thing beyond our
control - it is fate and the results of someone else’s choices that are not up to us.
But from the cheater’s viewpoint, infidelity is a grave error, showing not just a lack
of self-restraint but also an act of injustice.
In the Roman Empire, when Epictetus lived, people saw marriage as a sacred institution,
and violating it wasn’t a small matter.
(3) Laying in bed all day
We need rest to function well.
However, some people take rest to the next level by sleeping excessively and spending
copious amounts of time in a state of laziness.
Marcus Aurelius frowned upon laziness, seeing it as an unnatural state in conflict with
what we’re “created for.”
At the start of the fifth chapter of his Meditations, he seems to argue with himself about having
trouble getting out of bed.
He first defends his choice to stay in bed by stating that “it’s nicer.”
But then he questions himself by asking: “were you born to feel nice?”
He points to plants, birds, and ants doing their jobs putting the world in order.
Aren’t we supposed to do our tasks as human beings too?
On the other hand, we need to sleep sometime, right?
“Agreed,” Marcus Aurelius wrote.
“But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking.
And you’re over the limit.
You’ve had more than enough of that.
But not of working.
There you’re still below your quota.
You don’t love yourself enough.
Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you.
People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or
eat.
End quote.
According to the Stoics, laziness is a form of cowardice, which is a Stoic vice.
The opposing virtue is courage.
If we’re lazy, we’re not acting in agreement with nature; we’re not doing what we’re
supposed to do.
Why do we have muscles?
Why do we have a brain?
Aren’t they meant to be used?
The ultimate state Stoics want to attain is called eudaimonia.
Eudaimonia is a state of flourishing, and thus high-mindedness, perseverance, endurance,
cheerfulness.
Society prospers when its citizens prosper.
Laziness, sloth, stagnation are hindrances to a thriving culture.
(4) Sickly pale of lust
“How many are pale from constant pleasures!”
stated Seneca in his essay On the Shortness of Life.
People guided by lust Seneca didn’t hold in high regard and he placed them below those
that are wrathful, dream of glory, and wage war.
I quote: “But among the worst, I count also those who have time for nothing but wine and
lust; for none have more shameful engrossments.”
End quote.
If someone is enslaved by lust, this person flows along with the whims of fate, always
following where he can satiate his desires and placing this pursuit above everything
else.
It’s a position of weakness; the outside world exercises great power over him.
And, which is Seneca’s point in his essay, being lustful is a waste of time.
Aren’t there better ways to spend our lives, than pursuing the sensation of the palate,
the stimulation of one’s sexual organs, or stuffing the mind with useless gossip and
pointless entertainment?
When our sense of fulfillment depends on satiating our senses, we will spend most of our lives
in such pursuits.
A major problem with this dependency is that the things we need are beyond our control.
Hence, we handed over the key to our happiness to Fate.
And fate is ruthless: sometimes it gives us exactly what we want, but often it takes it
away just as quickly.
I quote:
Many, following no fixed aim, shifting and inconstant and dissatisfied, are plunged by
their fickleness into plans that are ever new; some have no fixed principle by which
to direct their course, but Fate takes them unawares while they loll and yawn.
End quote.
So, when lust possesses us, we not only waste our time pursuing pleasure but also lay our
sense of wellbeing in the hands of outside forces.
Moreover, the pursuit of pleasure is a bottomless pit; it’s never enough, and we eventually
need more to be satisfied, making it even more complex and more time-consuming to be
content.
Our faces become “pale,” as we’re jaded, insatiable, damaged by excessive consumption,
tired, and worn out by the ongoing chase for more.
From a Stoic point of view, being “chained by lust” is a form of degeneracy because
it makes us restless, unfree, and perpetually discontent: it’s damaging to ourselves and
often to our surroundings as well.
It corresponds with the Stoic virtue moderation and the opposing vice: intemperance.
As Seneca stated: “everything in excess becomes a fault.”
Thank you for watching.