Single Idea 7502

[catalogued under 16. Persons / A. Concept of a Person / 4. Persons as Agents]

Full Idea

For the Stoics, the true self is defined only by what I can be master of.

Gist of Idea

For Stoics the true self is defined by what I can be master of

Source

report of Stoic school (fragments/reports [c.200 BCE]) by Michel Foucault - On the Genealogy of Ethics

Book Reference

Foucault,Michel: 'Essential Works 1954-1984 I: Ethics', ed/tr. Rabinow,Paul [Penguin 1994], p.270


A Reaction

Interesting. This ties the self to the will - indeed, it almost identifies the self with the will. Why is the self the parts that are mastered, rather than the part that does the mastering? I master my shoes, but they are not me.