A ética dos estoicos antigos e o estereótipo estoico na modernidade

Considering that Stoicism is the most influent Hellenistic stream on Western philosophy, our intention is to present some of the most common stereotypes created by modern philosophy to convey Stoic ethical theory. With this in view, we make a presentation of the most famous aspects of Stoic ethics and analyze the concepts which later will be object of criticism to the school of Stoa. Charged with being a philosophical stream that defends self-indulgence, feeling- annihilation and the absolute domination of reason over passions, stoicism is often misinterpreted by its opponents. We also point here Spinoza’s criticism on fifth Ethics book’s preface, where the emphasis on concepts such as “experience” and “will” helps to clarify the way in which stoicism is seen in modern philosophy.