UNAIR NEWS – We often hear advice about simple living. In philosophy, the advice is from Stoicism teaching.
Philosophy lecturer of Indonesian Language and Literature Study Program, Faculty of Humanities (FIB) UNAIR Dr Listiyono Santoso SS MHum explained that Stoicism encourages us to live realistically, with self-understanding, self-anticipation, and self-evaluation. In life, human should be ready with many challenges and hurdles.
“We should live a realist life and not imagine non-existing things. We must also anticipate life in the worst situation. Javanese people called it nrimo ing pandhum, which means to be not superfluous, facing the world as it is, and oriented to prosperity and happiness,” said Dr Listyono.
According to Dr Listyono, Stoicism taught us to appreciate the time. There is an understanding that reality is an exact process that must be faced seriously so that human life could be better and more ethical than it was.
History of Stoicism
Stoicism as a philosophy has existed since 301 BC or the 3rd century BC. The founder was the Ancient Greek philosopher of Athens called Zeno. Then it was continued by the Stoic philosophers Chrysippus, Cicero, and Epictetus, who were named “The Stoic Teacher Slave”, Marcus Aurelius, or “The Emperor”, and Seneca with his title as the Statesman and Stoic Philosopher.
“It was called Stoa because those philosophers debated and had discussion in the Stoa. They discussed various issues and themes, from theology, astronomy, physics, and logic, to ethics. The main discussion was about the philosophy of life wisdom in ethics and theology,” Dr Listyono mentioned.
Philosophical concept of Stoicism
Stoicism philosophy leans towards the practical guide to achieving welfare and happiness. A philosopher named Plato called it Eudhomania (happiness is the virtue of life).
“The main principle of ancient stoic is the belief that we are not reacting to an event. The most important thing is our judgement towards them depended on themselves,” said the lecturer who had published some philosophy books.
Guide of Stoicism
Stoicism has a practical guide that can be applied to one’s way of thinking. Among them are, focusing on things that could be done, good time management, focusing on the solution to many hurdles, feeling happy without being proud or self-centered, and always being realist and anticipative.
“Stoicism encourages humanity to actually have the virtues of life through practical behaviour in a happy life. The achievements are through self-focus, self-reflection, and self-anticipation,” revealed Dr Listyono.
Author: Fauzia Gadis Widyanti
Editor: Feri Fenoria
