Stoic against the City

Abstract

In these decadent times, it is tempting to turn to Stoicism for alternative inspiration. It is misleading, however, to think that Stoicism possess a genuinely political dimension; in fact it is inimical to politics as understood in the classical sense. Drawing on Hannah Arendt and Friedrich Nietzsche, it is shown that Stoicism could be as anti-polis as the rest of the metaphysical tradition.