ABSTRACT
The foundation for Stoic ethics is a doctrine that has its own basis in physics, that is, in the nature of living beings. This is the doctrine of oikeisis. For a non-rational animal, the objects that will contribute to the preservation of its existence are fairly obvious: food, water, shelter and so on. It is the Stoic theory of self-preservation that forms the basis for the later infamous defence of suicide. Suicide may well be the end for an individual qua animal, but it may be the most appropriate act of the individual qua rational being. For the Stoics, the emotions are themselves judgements. An emotion involves a conscious act of assent to an impression. According to Arius Didymus, Zeno divided things that exist into three groups: things that are good, things that are bad and things that are indifferent. A number of themes that have been encountered in Stoic ethics form the background for Stoic thinking about politics.
