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Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Musonius Rufus, Lectures 4.7


Hence I hold it reasonable that the things which have reference to virtue ought to be taught to male and female alike; and furthermore that straight from infancy they ought to be taught that this is right and that is wrong, and that it is the same for both alike; that this is helpful, that is harmful, that one must do this, one must not do that.

From this training understanding is developed in those who learn, boys and girls alike, with no difference. Then they must be inspired with a feeling of shame toward all that is base. When these two qualities have been created within them, man and woman are of necessity self-controlled

And most of all the child who is trained properly, whether boy or girl, must be accustomed to endure hardship, not to fear death, not to be disheartened in the face of any misfortune; he must in short be accustomed to every situation which calls for courage. Now courage, it was demonstrated above, should be present in women too.

Furthermore to shun selfishness and to have high regard for fairness and, being a human being, to wish to help and to be unwilling to harm one's fellow men is the noblest lesson, and it makes those who learn it just.

We pride ourselves on our efforts to give the same quality of education to women as we do to men, in treating them equally and offering them the same opportunities. In that it proceeds from a respect for the dignity of the human person, and not merely from an attitude of conflict between the sexes, this is surely a noble thing.

Consider, however, what Musonius proposes as the proper end of education, and how this may differ from what we pursue over the many years we now send our young people to school.

Stoicism, working from our very identity as creatures of mind and will, establishes virtue as the highest human good, by which all other conditions should be measured. What makes any man or woman a success in this life? Whatever else they may do, they live well when they first pursue excellence of character.

Education, in turn, of whatever sort, fulfills its role when it works toward this goal.

Far too often, our attitudes diverge from such a respect for our true nature. We may see people not as having moral worth, but as having worth from what they consume and produce, from what they are capable of buying and selling. We replace a concern for what is inside of us with a concern for what is outside of us. According to this view, what makes any man or women a success in this life? It is sadly only the power of wealth and the prestige of honor.

Education, in turn, is then what makes us the most efficient managers, or the most obedient workers.

Do we pay lip service to the formation of character? Yes, of course, because such sentiments sell, but we usually don’t invite someone to give a commencement address because he is honest and caring; we ask him because he is rich and famous. We don’t usually publicize graduates who went on to practice small acts of kindness; we praise those who have ended up winning great positions of influence, who have learned the skill of impressing others.

Mouthing the words won’t be enough. Certainly, teach the best professional skills, but none of them will be of any use without a moral compass.

It is far more important to build a conscience, to be proud of doing right and ashamed of doing wrong, to discover meaning in life from the merit our own deeds instead of relying on our circumstances, to find the deepest satisfaction from loving our neighbors as ourselves.

No, we can’t use fancy statistics, or columns of financial profits and losses, to quantify a wise and loving soul. I would suggest that is precisely the point, since the qualities that make us noble and good are not determined by who dies with the most toys.

Giving women and men equal access to the best careers is all nice and well, but that isn’t the sort of shared education Musonius has in mind. He is rather concerned with something deeper, with women and men having a common calling to prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice.

Written in 6/1999


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