Pigliucci Quote on Virtue: The Only Thing Up to Us

Quote

"Virtue is the only thing that is truly up to us: the modern Stoic practices the ancient disciplines in the service of the character, and the character is the one possession that no fortune can take." — Massimo Pigliucci, How to Be a Stoic (2017)

Author

Massimo Pigliucci is an Italian-American philosopher and scientist, a professor at the City College of New York, and one of the leading figures of the modern Stoic revival. His How to Be a Stoic (2017) is among the most influential works of the revival.

Source

The quotation is from How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (New York: Basic Books, 2017).

Context

The teaching belongs to the modern recovery of the ancient Stoic ethics. The ancient doctrine — only virtue is good, and virtue is in our power — is the foundation of the Stoic system, and Pigliucci presents it as the center of the modern practice: the virtue is the only thing that is truly up to us, and the disciplines — the dichotomy of control, the examination of the impressions, the acceptance — are the training of the virtue.

Meaning

The quotation states the modern Stoic account of virtue with complete clarity. "Virtue is the only thing that is truly up to us" — the ancient doctrine in the modern form: the virtue — the character, the wisdom, the justice, the courage, the temperance — is the one thing that is in our power, and the one thing that no fortune can take. "The modern Stoic practices the ancient disciplines in the service of the character" — the practice: the disciplines — the dichotomy, the attention, the acceptance — are the training of the character. "The character is the one possession that no fortune can take" — the conclusion: the character is the secure possession — the one thing that the loss of the wealth, the health, and the reputation cannot touch. The quotation is the modern form of the ancient doctrine of the virtue, and it grounds the Stoic wisdom tradition's account of the good life in the language of the modern world.

Related Wisdom

The quotation belongs to the modern practice of Stoicism and the doctrine of the virtues. Its account of the virtue as the only thing up to us is the modern translation of the ancient foundation, and it grounds the Stoic wisdom tradition's account of the character.