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Full Idea
Unlike the Cynics, the Stoics did not carry their indifference to conventional goods to outright scorn and rejection of them. They only insisted that such goods should not be the object of desire, since desire is something opposed to reason.
Gist of Idea
Stoics do not despise external goods, but subject them to reason, and not to desire
Source
comment on Stoic school (fragments/reports [c.200 BCE]) by Richard Taylor - Virtue Ethics: an Introduction Ch.8
Book Ref
Taylor,Richard: 'Virtue Ethics: an Introduction' [Prometheus 2002], p.49
A Reaction
The Stoic view would appear to be derived from Aristotle, who only wants external goods insofar as they can support the life of virtue (as in needing money to be generous). Perhaps the Cynics made the Stoics a bit more puritanical than Aristotle.
| 5138 | The fine deeds required for happiness need external resources, like friends or wealth [Aristotle] |
| 38 | A man can't be happy if he is ugly, or of low birth, or alone and childless [Aristotle] |
| 1665 | It is nonsense to say a good person is happy even if they are being tortured or suffering disaster [Aristotle] |
| 5871 | Goods in the soul are more worthy than those outside it, as everybody wants them [Aristotle] |
| 1829 | A wise man would be happy even under torture [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 5073 | Stoics do not despise external goods, but subject them to reason, and not to desire [Taylor,R on Stoic school] |
| 20862 | Crafts like music and letters are virtuous conditions, and they accord with virtue [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
| 13549 | Nothing bad can happen to a good man [Seneca] |