Final answer:
The Stoics believed that true happiness is attained through the acceptance of fate and living a life of virtue in alignment with nature's rational order, emphasizing that personal contentment is a matter of individual consent.
Step-by-step explanation:
Stoicism and Happiness
It is true that Stoics believe happiness and its opposite are fundamentally a matter of personal consent. The Stoics, originating from the teachings of Zeno in the stoa poikile of Athens, held a philosophy that emphasized rationality and the acceptance of fate. They posited that the universe was governed by divine reason or Logos, and that living in agreement with nature and reason resulted in true happiness. Instead of succumbing to emotions such as fear and anger, the Stoics encouraged the pursuit of four core virtues: courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. By mastering these virtues, a person could maintain rational self-control, which was the Stoics' ultimate goal. Their perspective was that nothing external could truly affect one's inner peace and happiness without their own assent.
The Stoic philosophy is particularly known for its ethical teachings, which stood in contrast to the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure advocated by the Epicureans. Stoicism developed in a time when political agency was seen to be outside the individual's control, often leading to a stance of political detachment. However, Stoics emphasized personal ethics and the development of a rational mindset to cope with life's challenges and to avoid being enslaved by emotions. In essence, the Stoic view of philosophy was about maintaining inner freedom and the constant work towards it, which reflected their belief in the power of the individual's will over external circumstances.
Although the Stoics recognized the reality of societal and political structures, they stressed the importance of focusing on what was within one's own control, thus affirming the concept that personal contentment and virtue were choices that each individual could make, regardless of external conditions. In conclusion, to the Stoics, happiness was a state of being that could only be achieved through personal assent to live according to nature's rationality and acceptance of what life presents, in alignment with the four cardinal virtues.