ZENO - KNOWLEDGE

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>ZENO</FONT><BR> THE STOIC</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>What Can we Know?</B></FONT><P> To the <A HREF="../t03/g050.html" TARGET="_top">Stoic</A>, what constitutes knowledge is "life in agreement with nature". Stoic doctrine emphasized the unity of nature and man as part of the whole. All things happen by an endless chain of causation, that is by Fate. Man could achieve perfection only by accepting himself as part of the whole and subject to its laws.<P> Zeno conceived the world as a unity, with all its parts governed and guided by a universal law. For him, this was the Logos (the Word or Reason). For later writers it was Divine Providence. Whatever title we choose to give it, the Stoic attains peace and happiness by submitting his own will to it. The law to which he yields is at once the law of the universe and the law of his own nature. Individual events are to be understood and accepted within the over all pattern as being good. Zeno describes this as "life in agreement with nature".<P> Chrysippus, a disciple of Zeno describes the Stoic principle thuswise: <BLOCKQUOTE>"And this very thing constitutes the virtue of the happy man and the smooth current of life, when all actions promote the harmony of the spirit dwelling in the individual man with the will of him who orders the universe."<P> (Diogenes Laertius VII.88) </BLOCKQUOTE> <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>