Chrysippos ho Soleus – Chrysippus of Soli (c. 279 – c. 206 BC)

CHRYSIPPOS HO SOLEUS is a Greek Stoic philosopher, native of Cilicia. He soon moves to Athens and becomes a pupil of Kleanthes (Cleanthes) in the Stoic school. When the latter dies, Chrysippos becomes the third head of the school and a prolific writer. He expands the doctrines of Zenon ho Kitieus, founder and first head of the school.

Chrysippos masterminds an original system of propositional logic. With this system he intends to shed light on the workings of the universe and the function of humanity. He has a deterministic view of fate, but seeks the role of personal freedom. Ethics, he thinks, depends on understanding the nature of the universe and conform to it.

Chrysippos ho Soleus is a Greek Stoic philosopher also because he believes in destiny. According to Chrysippus, all things happen in harmony with fate. What seems to be fortuitous has always some cause which is evident or hidden. The interreletedness of the world consists in the chain-like dependence of cause upon cause. Nothing takes place without a sufficient cause. For Chrysippus, every proposition is either true or false, and this must apply to future events as well.

Chrysippos teaches a therapy meant to extirpate from our soul all the unruly passions which depress and frustrate ourselves. His goal is <apatheia> as a state of mind in which one is not disturbed by the passions. This praised attitude is best translated by the word equanimity rather than indifference. He initiates the success of Stoicism as one of the most influential philosophical movements for centuries in the Greek and Roman world.