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Single Idea 20841

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / k. Ethics from nature]

Full Idea

Zeno first (in his book On Human Nature) said that the goal was to live in agreement with nature, which is to live according to virtue.

Gist of Idea

Zeno said live in agreement with nature, which accords with virtue

Source

report of Zeno (Citium) (fragments/reports [c.294 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 07.87

A Reaction

The main idea seems to be Aristotelian - that the study of human nature reveals what our virtues are, and following them is what nature requires. Nature is taken to be profoundly rational.

Book Reference

'The Stoics Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B/Gerson,L.P. [Hackett 2008], p.113