Marcus Aurelius writes: Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul? What good will this danger do thee? He has such a mouth, he has such arm-pits: it is necessary that such an emanation must come from such things- but the man has reason, it will be said, and he is able, if he takes pain, to discover wherein he offends- I wish thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and thou hast reason: by thy rational faculty stir up his rational faculty; show him his error, admonish him. For if he listens, thou wilt cure him, and there is no need of anger. Neither tragic actor nor whore... - Meditations, Book V, 28 There is a certain tendency I notice among myself and others who practice Stoicism to completely refrain - or at least try to refrain from admonishing others. But is that actually supported by Stoic ethics? Given the above quote one could think it isnt. For someone can be encouraged to act virtuously - to be reasonable instead of ignorant - for his or her own good and virtue as a whole. Not to cling to any positive outcome of the intervention is of course a necessity. I just ordered myself a book on the Socratic method of communication. If there is way to follow this imperative of Marcus Aurelius I guess, its best done in a Socratic manner... What do you think about all this? Is admonishment necessary? How and when should it be applied?
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 15:16:03 +0000
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