Despite his extensive philosophising, Seneca never showed a systematic approach to philosophy. His Letters to Lucilius employ hundreds of times the word “virtue,” but do not connect it to metaphysics, epistemology, politics, aesthetics or to the Aristotelian tradition.
Seneca was a gifted writer, but not a systematic thinker. His goal was to prevent misery more than to promote happiness. In his works, we are led to assume that he knew the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, but he does very little to prove this point.
How can I then summarise Seneca’s insights? I will do so in seven principles that condense the essence of his philosophical works. These seven ideas are spread all over Seneca’s works. It would take days for anyone to go through all of Seneca’s works and come to these conclusions:
Life is to a great extent unpredictable, and philosophy is the best tool for navigating the uncertainty. In his 71st and 88th Letters to Lucilius, Seneca acknowledges that Stoicism views philosophy as the study of virtue, but the study is not a purely theoretical study.
The goal of philosophy is to help us make good decisions, especially when we only possess incomplete information. Even if living conditions have improved enormously since the times of Ancient Rome, Seneca’s insights remain true: Every person is going to be confronted, sooner or later, with setbacks, failure and sickness.
Seneca’s metaphor of the voyage
Wisdom is philosophy in practice. Seneca employs the metaphor of the voyage in the 71st Letter to Lucilius. This Letter prompts me to conclude that, if life is a voyage, then philosophy shows us the goal, and wisdom delineates the path to follow.
Wisdom is the skill that we acquire through careful, detailed and sustained study of philosophy. It is a skill that protects our serenity when things turn for the worse.
In those Letters to Lucilius, Seneca fails to quote Aristotle (384-322 BC) and his “Nicomachean Ethics” and “Eudemian Ethics,” which also conceived ethics as a practical science, but one that is fully consistent with other branches of philosophy. I miss in Seneca this concern for consistency and integration.
Stoicism admits that philosophy also deals with politics, nature, aesthetics and logic, but in practice, pays little attention to those matters. Seneca focused almost exclusively on ethics, just as the prior Stoics had done.
The extant works of Cleanthes (330-230 BC), Chrysippus (279-206 BC) and Zeno of Citium (334-262 BC) don’t contain many disquisitions on logic, aesthetics and politics. Peace of mind was their priority and everything else came second.
Seneca calls for concentrating our efforts on learning all the intricacies of Stoicism. In the 32nd Letter to Lucilius, he is condemning those who make material abundance their priority because, in doing so, they are unlikely to find happiness.
Stoicism, says Seneca in the 32nd Letter, can render us calm, peaceful and satisfied. Later Stoics, such as Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) and Epictetus (55-135 AD) gave more weight to minimising suffering and increasing our resilience.
Seneca’s emphasis on daily practice
Philosophy is for practising, not for preaching. Seneca is often coming back to this idea in his Letters to Lucilius and in his essays “On the Constancy of the Wise” and “On the Happy Life.” He views it as a waste of time to try to convince other people to change their ideas and lifestyle.
In the 29th Letter to Lucilius, Seneca considers philosophical proselytism ineffective because it is doomed to fail most of the time. He calls for thoughtful individuals to help only those that are amenable to improvement, and ignore the rest.
Seneca mentions his acquaintance Marcellinus as someone who will never change his views, even if he is confronted with arguments that clearly prove him wrong.
Instead of acknowledging the truth, concludes Seneca, the individuals like Marcellinus are more likely to make a joke and stick to their bad habits. Eventually, they will reach a point that no longer allows them to escape the consequences of their self-delusion.
Philosophy is a lifelong undertaking, explains Seneca. It is in our interest to study virtue as early as possible in life, but in any case, we will make some mistakes and endure setbacks.
Seneca encourages his readers to study and practise virtue at every opportunity because they will benefit from it. Serenity is not guaranteed, but it is the normal outcome of wisdom.
I find it remarkable that the 89th Letter to Lucilius mentions Ariston of Chios (3rd century BC) as someone who regards the study of nature and logic as detrimental. For Ariston, the world was essentially unknowable and chaotic.
Seneca didn’t endorse the doctrines preached by Ariston. He did consider life as risky and uncertain, but not to the extent of being unknowable and chaotic. Despite his praise for Stoicism, I would categorize Ariston as half-way between Stoic thought, Cynicism and Scepticism.
Seneca’s insights and Filippo Brunelleschi
Stoicism requires patience and consistency. Seneca’s call for equanimity appears repeatedly in the Letters to Lucilius. In his historical anecdotes, he expresses particular admiration for Socrates (470-399 BC) and Cato the Younger (95-46 BC), who chose to remain loyal to their ideas until the very end.
In more recent times, we can find examples of Stoic virtue applied to particular professions or endeavours. I regard those examples as crucial for understanding Seneca’s conception of patience and consistency.
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) embodies the Stoic virtue of patience in a superlative manner. He worked for decades as a goldsmith and evolved slowly into architecture, maintaining a healthy motivation even after losing in 1401 the competition for decorating the door of Florence’s baptistery.
Instead of wasting time on lamentations, Brunelleschi left Florence, relocated to Rome, and devoted himself to studying construction. He paid repeated visits to the Pantheon, studied the dome, measured all details, and figured out how it had been built. He spent three years at subsistence level to carry out his studies.
Upon returning to Florence, he deployed the Stoic virtue of consistency to the utmost. He spent three years convincing the local decision-makers and obtaining the commission to build a dome for the cathedral.
For that purpose, Brunelleschi built a toy-size model giving a visualisation of how he intended to build an enormous dome without having to erect a scaffolding: his visits to the Pantheon had led him to the conclusion that it was possible to build first a herringbone structure with bricks and lay stones around it.
Seneca would have praised Brunelleschi’s patience. His equanimity and steady work enabled him to surmount large obstacles. Even today, five centuries after Brunelleschi’s death, his achievements remain breathtaking.
If you are interested in putting rational ideas into practice, I recommend my book titled “Against all odds: How to achieve great victories in desperate times.”
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