Stoic Determinism, Self-Actualization, and Happiness
Stoic determinism explores the destination. According to Heraclitus, all things are governed by a universal law, and the ideal sage’s destiny is predetermined. The conscious mind, through its actions, ensures inner peace. There is a distinction between the inner and outer worlds, and predestination presents a causal order problem concerning freedom, similar to the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. If God knows everything, then, in some opinions, all human actions are caused by Him. However, people are responsible for their actions, and there is talk of sin, pardon, and salvation. Scientific reason provides scientific explanations, often leading to reductionism. Examples of determinism include: physicalist monism (reducing the universe to material and mechanical), physiological determinism (conditioned acts are reflexes), psychoanalytic determinism (unconscious acts), economic determinism (historical stages determined by modes of production), genetic determinism (actions caused by genetics), and psychological determinism (behavior is rational). Determinism is criticized, and Kant proposed two uses of the idea: regulative use (every phenomenon has a cause) and constitutive use (reality is causal). Human freedom is conditional and influenced by many factors. Humans respond by creating opportunities and choosing and justifying their responses. We can create our own purposes and laws, designing humanizing ideals. Socrates and his creative attitude shaped Western ethics. He addressed ethical issues and proposed methods for resolving them, focusing on the individual’s role in society. The Sophists educated for money, but Socrates was concerned with reflecting on things. His possibilities include: the attitude of truth (opposing dogmatism), reflection, dialogue to discover truth, the art of childbirth of truth (Maieutics), and the method discovered by Socrates, which is valuable for all people. It is necessary to be happy by doing good. Wisdom, virtue, and happiness are identified through intellectualism and moral action.
Self-Actualization and Eudaemonism
Self-actualization: Happiness and eudaemonism are related to the order that Aristotle describes. If all actions are for an end, the last end is happiness. Some seek money, others seek honors. Happiness is “a perfect good” and “a self-sufficient good” through the most suitable human activity, sustained by theoretical and practical wisdom in life. Each person has a function in society. Happiness consists in the exercise of practical and theoretical intellect. This activity achieves happiness, aided by dianoetic (prudence) and ethical virtues. Ethics and politics make demands.
Achieving Happiness
How to achieve happiness: Knowing the self is wise to be happy. Happiness is self-sufficiency. Philosophers distinguished themselves through a cynical attitude: happiness is freedom versus radical regulation. The wise live according to nature. Diogenes. Stoics believe that the wise live according to nature, and they must discover the order of the cosmos to know how to behave. The wise ideal destination ensures inner peace, and calm is stoicism as happiness. The source of this is a vital attitude. Hedonism and pleasure-seeking are avoided by calculating intellect, which serves to calculate the means to achieve greater pleasure. Epicureanism‘s ideal is joy through wisdom or wise calculation. Those who know pleasures are more intense and lasting have wisdom in life. It has two roots: calculating pleasure and intellect.