ABSTRACT
The department of Ethics contains two divisions: ethics which is concerned with the action of the individual; and politics, which has to do with the order of the State. It has been maintained that in Stoicism that the central aim of this philosophy is to erect a shelter for the individual. Stoic ethics are not based on the needs of the individual, but on the demands of the supreme Law. State law and conventional morality, and often of inferior purity, are yet a reflection of universal Law. The moral law must therefore first be studied in its bearings on man as a political and social animal. Chrysippus wrote at length on the subject, comparing the customs of various nations as well as the habits of animals, in order to ascertain the law of nature. This Stoic dogma is so familiar in divinity, law, and society that it is not easy to realize how paradoxical it seemed when first stated.
