Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.13

Constantly, and, if it be possible, on the occasion of every impression on the soul, apply to it the principles of Physics, of Ethics, and of Dialectic.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 8 (tr Long)

The Stoics often distinguish between three disciplines or branches of philosophy: Physics is about the natural order, ethics is about the morality of our actions, and dialectic is about the right use of our reason.

These do not exist in separation or isolation from one another, but are all concerned with understanding different aspects of the world, and of our place within it.

We will now often compartmentalize or pigeonhole different subjects, but the Stoic mindset is always built upon the unity and harmony of all things. It helps me to think of this as the necessary relationship between how the Universe works, how I should choose to live within it, and by what means I can employ my reason to understand this. No one of these can exist without the others, just as no part can have any meaning outside of the whole.

We will also now often think of disciplines completely in abstraction, as the pursuit of theory removed from practice. How often have I heard students telling me that algebra and chemistry have nothing to do with their lives, as well as seen professional academics failing to serve others through their profound studies? Yet for the Stoic, theory and practice are two sides of the same coin; thinking and doing are inexorably joined.

In this light, it should not seem odd that Marcus Aurelius asks us to always consider the nature of being, the nature of what is good, and the nature of what is true. He isn’t asking us to get lost in obscure corners of specialized studies; he isn’t asking us to put our noses in books, or hide our heads in the clouds.

He is rather suggesting that we look at every experience, and at every action, in the context of the whole. He is simply saying that we cannot live well without thinking rightly.

There can be no meaning in life without grasping how things work, there can no purpose in action without the awareness of a goal, and there can be no knowledge at all without the discipline of an ordered mind. I must look at everything that happens to me, and everything that I do, within the complete pattern of everything else.

This is hardly too obscure, for anyone at all, because it is nothing else than the fullness of human life. Philosophy is not a luxury, but a necessity. A man can still be happy without a fancy trade, but he can never be happy without a sense of who he is and where he belongs.

Anything less is just stumbling about blindly. 

Written in 2/2008