Recently, I have watched (read in the paper) the indictment of Eric Adams, mayor of New York City (at least for now). While I understand that incitement and guilt are not synonymous, the words he has used in the past to define his character and his actions do not seem congruent. His character as defined by his actions (alleged) to a Stoic is found wanting. This week’s chapter is all the more powerful with these current events as a backdrop.  

Chapter 7 begins the third section of Catch on all the entries in the re-read of  How To Be A Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci. The section title is The Discipline Of Action: How To Behave In The World. Action is the second core discipline of Stoicism. Chapter 7 is titled It’s All About Character (and Virtue). A better title is “Hello Mr Adams.”

I take away several key ideas from this chapter. The first is how intertwined the four components of Stoic virtue are with the concept of virtue in other philosophies and religions. The four, practical wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice, can be found in nearly every religion and philosophy from Christianity to atheism. Practical wisdom allows us to make decisions that improve our ethically good life. Courage is a broad idea that incorporates physical and moral aspects. Temperance is about controlling desires and actions. A temperate person resists road rage. Justice refers to treating other human beings with dignity and fairness. The second big idea is that the four virtues are not independent. You can’t be both intemperate and just. My wife and I have had several conversations about this topic, spinning scenarios to test the idea. I am trying to create a mental image of a Venn diagram where the overlap of all four areas is a virtuous character – unfortunately, it’s still fuzzy.

The third interesting idea layers in Socrates’s view that the core or cardinal virtues were different aspects of wisdom. Wisdom, whether as an overarching idea or one of the four virtues, is a basic requirement for navigating the dynamic (and often messy) world that we live in. Without wisdom, there is no synthesis of knowledge and no integration of ethics into behavior.

The four core virtues provide a framework for living but they still need to be translated into action. Just because we know something does not mean our actions follow that knowledge. Character is the translation of virtue into behavior, hence the need to couple the character and virtue. The author points out the need for practice and reinforcement to not “derail the ship we command.” The combination of practice, daily journaling, and reflection creates a fast feedback loop to help “cultivate virtue and character.” As practitioners of lean and agile the use of feedback loops to shape behavior is not controversial. 

As a metaphor to wrap up the chapter, the author quotes Epictetus’s helmsman allegory. If they (the helmsman) crash their boat because they’re not paying attention even for the briefest moment or whether they do it deliberately, they still crash their boat. The bottom line is that if you destroy your character or your virtue just by looking away for a second, you’ve still destroyed your virtue and character the same as if you did it deliberately. Epictetus stresses the need to be vigilant. While re-reading this chapter, one of Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic columns took a less black-and-white view suggesting that ending well was perhaps a mechanism to reclaim the perception of one’s character, at least posthumously. Perhaps, but as I participate in my 50th high school reunion, I think vigilance is probably a better option than throwing a Hail Mary to reclaim one’s character and virtue.

Catch on all of the entries in the re-read of  How To Be A Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci (buy a copy and read along)

Week 1: Logistics and Opening Thoughts

Week 2: The Unstraightforward Path  

Week 3: A Roadmap For The Journey

Week 4: Some Things Are In Our Power, Others Are Not

Week 5: Live According To Nature

Week 6: Playing Ball With Socrates

Week 7: God or Atoms?