Stoicism is the perfect philosophy for science-fiction geeks: it’s a cross between Star Trek and Star Wars. The Stoic sage is Mr. Spock, and the Stoic god is the Force. (Well, except there’s no dark side.)
Jedi Vulcan
About Roderick T. Long
The Empirical Me
I’m Roderick T. Long, Professor of Philosophy at Auburn University. I’m an Aristotelean/Wittgensteinian in philosophy and a left-libertarian market anarchist in social theory. (More about me here.) This blog, Austro-Athenian Empire, is a continuation of my earlier blog, archived here.
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I don’t follow the Star Wars connection. Do you mean that the good jedi use stoicism as a method of tapping into the force? If so then how would the angry or bad jedi access the same force? I know you are not trying to expand or define the star wars mythology but could you clarify your point?
I meant that the Stoic conception of God (as an energy force binding the universe together) sounded like the Force from Star Wars.
Well, except there’s no dark side.
There’s being controlled by negative emotions. That’s true of everyone on the dark side — especially Anikan: specifically his anger.
But for Stoics the Force — God, Zeus — has no dark side. He’s an all-pervasive, perfectly rational cosmic fire.
Kind of like Aristotle’s agent intellect.
I see what you’re saying: the Force itself, for the Stoics, has no dark side. The Force, for the Stoics, is that which accords with Nature. So the Stoics would look at that which does not accord with Nature and say, “that is not part of the Force,” instead of, “that is the negative side of the Force.” But, if the Force is all-pervasive, then how could anything not be part of the Force? Similarly, how could the agent intellect not be present in any area of space?
Well, whatever happens is good. That’s why the only preferences we’re allowed to have is over our present/future choices (not our past ones) — because in that case what you prefer, you’ll get.
That makes a lot of sense. But the reason Anikan moves to the dark side is a preference over past choices. He cannot accept his mother’s death (or his powerlessness to prevent it); his will — and conceivably the will of all those on the dark side — finds root in a preference over past choices.
Isn’t that enough to make the dark side (or the story behind it) relevant to Stoicism?
If you want me to do a lightsaber picture of yourself just post it and I’ll ‘shop it in. It’s easier if you’re holding something like a stick or baseball bat in the picture.
“The Force” always turned me off to Star Wars. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enough of a fan to have watched the six films. Yet it’s not really the idea the Force itself that turns me off, but the way to harnessing it that I have problems with.
I’ve always loved Spock, but I think Kirk lacks the demeanor for actually being a captain, so I never really watched ST:TOS.
Data would make an excellent sage, but I have a hard time believing that his programming (sans the emotions chip) would necessarily stop him from experiencing emotions. Lal (Data’s daughter) was written more to ‘true to life’ imo.
Stoicism solves quite a few problems I’ve been dealing with recently. Thanks for the post!