Via Ciceronis

After our rest at Tusculum, I hope we are more aware of what it is we are trying to accomplish. We can now begin to understand that what it is that we are talking about here is not just theoretical. It is meant to change the way we think and act. This does not mean that we need to try and be ‘perfect’ Stoic wise men. One does not need to be perfect to live a happy life or achieve greatness. What we need to do is be honest and let go of the false beliefs that disrupt our inward states and move us contrary to nature. So, let us set out again on our journey and further our knowledge of the Ciceronian philosophical framework so that we can uncover our false beliefs and eliminate them. Unfortunately, the discussion on the remedies for the emotions which was promised last week will need to be delayed until next week. We shall still discuss metus (fear) today, but the focus will be on exploring the vocabulary associated with metus. This will deepen our understanding of what we already know about the emotions (perturbationes) and give us a strong foundation from which to move forward.

You will remember from our previous discussions that an emotion (perturbatio) is defined as a movement of the inward state (animus) away from rationality (ratio). There were four different categories of emotion based on the false beliefs of present and future, good and bad. Metus was the emotion that was based on the false belief that something bad was coming in the future and should be avoided. Therefore, the most appropriate translation is fear, although it must be understood in a general sense. Fear is a broad category of emotion which includes many different more specific emotions. In the Tusculan Disputations, Cicero gives a list of different types of fear. Some we might treat as synonyms of fear, while others we might treat as completely separate emotions. For example, Cicero sees laziness, shame, terror, and dread as different types of fear all with more specific meanings. Laziness (pigritia) is a fear of impending work. Shame (pudor) is a fear of disgrace. Terror (terror) is a fear which hits hard. Dread (formido) is a fear that is long-lasting. In this way, we can see how fear is used as a broad category of emotion which can manifest in different ways depending on the object of the fear, its intensity, or its duration.

There are limits though to what can be considered fear. We must remember that fear, being an emotion, is bad because it is based on a false belief. When someone feels the need to avoid something which they know to be bad, they exercise caution and not fear. We must be careful not to confuse the two. Fear is bad, caution is good. Let’s say that there were three friends sitting on the beach. One of the friends jumped up and said they should all go swimming. Neither of the other two wanted to go though. They both argued that swimming was a bad idea because they had not brought towels and the cold water might make them sick. This is a perfectly justifiable excuse not to go swimming. However, one of them was experiencing fear while the other was experiencing caution (cautio). The man experiencing fear consciously thought that health and convenience were the reasons why he wanted to avoid swimming. However, unconsciously he did not want his friends to make fun of him for being a bad swimmer. The false belief was that it would be bad if his friends made fun of him and so he must avoid that scenario. This false belief is veiled behind the pretext of swimming being bad. He might have been able to sense this deep down but could not or would not consciously accept that something so trivial might stop him from swimming. As a result, the inward state is moved. It becomes agitated and tries to protect its beliefs. It comes up with a rational excuse which is believable and successfully hides the reality of his insecurity from himself and others. The rationalising disguises right rationality (ratio). The other friend did not have the same insecurity but honestly thought that swimming was a bad idea. He held no false belief and made a judgement based on the information he had. As a result, he did not experience the same agitation of the inward state and remained consistent in his thinking. In this way, it is not the action of avoiding swimming in which the fault lies. The fault lies in the inward state’s move away from rationality (ratio) and its need to rationalise and make an excuse to protect the false belief. In fact, for the friend observing these two men it would be very difficult to see which one was experiencing fear and which one was experiencing caution. The difference is in the effect on the inward state. Fear disturbs the inward state and makes it irrational. Caution, although leading to the same outward action, is not a type of fear. It is not bad as it does not move and agitate the inward state.

In summary, fear is a broad category of emotion which includes various more specific emotions like laziness, shame, and terror. However, it is a category of emotion (perturbatio) and so must always be considered bad because it is a response to a false belief. Therefore, it must be differentiated from its counterpart, caution, which is good. The other categories of emotion can be broken down in a similar way and have their own respective vocabulary. If one is interested in the different vocabulary surrounding the other emotions, I would recommend the book Cicero on Emotions by M. Graver (especially pp. 43-51). This book has been one of my main sources for the information and vocabulary in this discussion. For now, our discussion on the Stoic theory of the emotions is complete. Next week, we will go beyond the Stoics and discuss Cicero’s practical remedia (remedies) for the emotions and fear in particular.