Stooicism Research Paper

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The ethical type I have chosen is Stoicism. I’m part of an online men’s only chat group and one of the members mentioned Stoicism as a recommended philosophy to follow and posted a link for us to read. I did not think of it again until I came across this assignment so I decided to research more on Stoicism. Stoicism is a philosophy founded in Athens in 3rd century BC (Baltzly, 1996). The main idea behind Stoicism is to expect the best and worst that can happen so external events do not affect one emotionally. Happiness is a state of mind so it takes very little to be happy. If one can learn to be happy eating stale bread, sleeping on the floor, drinking water from a dog’s bowl, then nothing can make one unhappy. One strives to be happy regardless of external events. External events are something that cannot be controlled, therefore external events are not allowed to affect one’s state of mind. If one goes about each day expecting to meet the best and the worst of people, and expecting the best and worst of events, then one’s peace of mind can remain constant and stable throughout the day. This is because all possible outcomes have already been …show more content…
Whether I end up bringing a girl home or not, it does not matter to me, I am happy either way. Furthermore, even if I end up bringing a girl home, I am happy whether or not I end up having sex with her or not. When a girl agrees to go home with me, I do not assume that she is going to have sex with me. In my mind, I fully expect her to either be too drunk or sleepy to have sex, and at the same time, I fully expect a great night of sex. Either outcome is fine with me. So if she wants to have sex, that’s great. If she does not want to have sex, that’s great as well. My decision making regarding this ethical dilemma illustrates the philosophy of Stoicism by not letting external events affect my state of

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