Editing Chrysippus (section)

== Ethics ==
[[File:Medeia child Louvre K300.jpg|right|thumb|Greek [[amphora]] depicting [[Euripides]]' ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]''. Chrysippus regarded [[Medea]] as a prime example of how bad judgments could give rise to irrational passions.<ref>[[Galen]], ''On The Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato'', iii.3.13–22, iv.2.27, iv.6.19–27.</ref>{{efn|See also [[Epictetus]], ''[[Discourses of Epictetus|Discourses]]'', i.28.6–10; ii.17.19–23, for an example of this play being discussed in the setting of a Stoic school.}}]]

Chrysippus taught that [[ethics]] depended on physics. In his ''Physical Theses'', he stated: "for there is no other or more appropriate way of approaching the subject of good and evil on the virtues or happiness than from the nature of all things and the administration of the universe."<ref name="stock13">{{Harvnb|Stock|1908|p=13}}</ref> The goal of life, said Chrysippus, is to live in accordance with one's experience of the actual course of nature.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|1970|p=163}}</ref> A person's individual nature is part of the nature of the whole universe,<ref name="laertius87">Diogenes Laërtius, vii. 87</ref> and thus life should be lived in accordance with one's own human nature as well as that of the universe.<ref name="laertius88">Diogenes Laërtius, vii. 88</ref> Human nature is ethical, and humanity is akin to the Divine, emanating from the primal fire or aether, which, though material, is the embodiment of reason; and people should conduct themselves accordingly.<ref name="davidson615">{{Harvnb|Davidson|1908|p=615}}</ref> People have freedom, and this freedom consists in emancipation from irrational desires (lust, riches, position in life, domination, etc.) and in subjecting the will to reason.<ref name="davidson615"/> Chrysippus laid the greatest stress on the worth and dignity of the individual, and on the power of will.<ref name="davidson615"/>

The Stoics admitted between the good and the bad a third class of things{{snd}}the indifferent (''[[adiaphora]]'').<ref name="kenny282">{{Harvnb|Kenny|2006|pp=282–283}}</ref> Of things morally indifferent, the best includes health, and riches, and honour, and the worst includes sickness and poverty.<ref name="zeller284">{{Harvnb|Zeller|1880|p=284}}</ref> Chrysippus accepted that it was normal in ordinary usage to refer to the preferred indifferent things as "good",<ref name="kenny282"/> but the wise person, said Chrysippus, uses such things without requiring them.<ref name="zeller284"/> Practice and habit are necessary to render virtue perfect in the individual{{snd}}in other words, there is such a thing as moral progress, and character has to be built up.<ref name="davidson615"/>

===''On Passions''===
{{Main|On Passions}}
The Stoics sought to be free of the [[Stoic passions|unruly emotions]], which they regarded as being contrary to nature. The passions or emotions (''pathe'') are the disturbing element in right judgment.<ref name="davidson615"/> Chrysippus wrote a whole book, ''On Passions'' ({{langx|el|Περὶ παθῶν}}), concerning the therapy of the emotions.<ref name="gould186">{{Harvnb|Gould|1970|p=186}}</ref> The passions are like diseases which depress and crush the soul, thus he sought to eradicate them (''[[apatheia]]'').<ref name="gould186"/> Wrong judgements turn into passions when they gather an impetus of their own, just as, when one has started running, it is difficult to stop.<ref name="sharples68">{{Harvnb|Sharples|2014|p=68}}</ref> One cannot hope to eradicate the passions when one is in the heat of love or anger: this can only be done when one is calm.<ref name="gould187">{{Harvnb|Gould|1970|p=187}}</ref> Therefore, one should prepare in advance, and deal with the passions in the mind as if they were present.<ref name="gould188">{{Harvnb|Gould|1970|p=188}}</ref> By applying reason to passions such as greed, pride, or lust, one can understand the harm which they cause.<ref name="gould188"/>