Nietzsche vs. Stoicism

Is the Quest for Truth and Order Futile?

We live with the constant danger that our “map” — our understanding — of the world is melded or confused with the world itself. Image: A historical map of the world by Gerard van Schagen, 1689. (Public domain. Source: Wikipedia).

Is your glass of water half full or half empty?

This experiment is often thought of as a way to distinguish pessimists from optimists. Its lesson is clear — a fundamental difference of perception can lead to a profoundly different approach to living.

Nietzsche’s criticisms of the Stoics betrays this kind of fundamental difference. It’s a clash of philosophies that allows us to think about how our perception of the world informs our understanding of it, and how we can find meaning within it.

There is common ground between Nietzsche’s philosophy and the Stoics. Both believed that human beings did not have “free will” — that is, we do not have any active role to play in our own fate.

But Nietzsche is well known for his snarky attacks, and Stoicism is the target of several of them, especially in Nietzsche’s later writings.

The nineteenth century philosopher’s main contention with the Stoics is the ancient school’s insistence that its followers “live according to nature.” This is the central principle of the Stoics, who believed that the cosmos is one and the same with God and therefore had an order to it.

It’s worth mentioning here that “nature” doesn’t mean “the natural world” of just…