Abstract
Although the Stoic doctrine of happiness has popularly been interpreted as concentrating on inner mental tranquility, the ancient Stoics themselves emphasize that happiness does not consist in passive experience but in activity. They consider perfect rationality and virtue to be a principle which constitute its participator—the ideally happy and free Stoic sage—as a unified self, capable of the highest degree of activity. This self-activity of the Stoic sage does not imply withdrawing from the external world, but lies in a completely consistent way of dealing with the circumstances of a life. This chapter aims to elucidate the philosophical significance of this Stoic view by framing it in the context of contemporary discussions, such as the ones put forward by Martha Nussbaum, Robert Nozick, Christine Korsgaard, and Julia Annas.
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