ZENÓN DE CITIO: BIOGRAPHY, THOUGHT, CONTRIBUTIONS AND WORK - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

Zeno of Citius was a Greek philosopher whose main contribution was the creation of Stoicism. This philosophical school faces the supporters of Epicurus, establishing the primacy of logic and physics as fundamental elements to achieve virtue.

Zeno was born in the Cypriot city of Citio, at that time a Greek colony. His interest in philosophy came to him after arriving in Athens and beginning to interact with various philosophers of the time. He was a student of Crates and Stilpon, both belonging to the Cynical school.

However, the evolution of his thought - influenced by Plato, Aristotle and Heraclitus - led Zeno to distance himself from them and establish his own theories. Tolerant in character, he began to give lessons for all who were interested under the Painted Portico of Athens.

Hence the name of stoicism, since in Greek portico it is said stoa. Despite contradictory information, most experts point out that he committed suicide after 30 years teaching his philosophy. He was the author of quite a few works, but none have been completed to this day.

Biography

Zenón de Citio was born in 336 BC. C. in the Cypriot town of Citio. For many years he worked with his father, a wealthy local merchant, and his interest in philosophy did not awaken until well past his youth.

There are various stories that tell how he came to Athens and began to study philosophy. The most recurrent is the one that tells that, traveling on a merchant ship, a shipwreck caused its sinking and made it reach the Greek capital. Also, that accident caused her to lose most of her fortune.

Disciple of Crates

That same shipwreck and the consequent arrival in Athens is related to the way in which it is related that he met the philosophers who would become his teachers.

It is said that Zeno entered a book store and began to read the work entitled Book II of Xenophon's commentaries. Apparently, he was very impressed by the reading and asked about the men the book spoke of.

The bookseller, seeing the cynical philosopher Crates of Thebes pass by, pointed him out and told him to follow him. He did so, becoming his disciple from that day on. Later it happened to be students of Estilpón and Xenocrates. All this training took him the next ten years.

Creation of Stoicism

After those years as a disciple, Zeno was not convinced by the teachings of his teachers. For this reason, and with the accumulated baggage, he designed his own philosophical system.

Around the year 300 a. C. began to impart his doctrines under a portico of the city of Athens that ended up giving name to his philosophical current: stoicism.

According to what some of his disciples wrote, Zeno distinguished himself by not being anything elitist when it came to teaching. Anyone was free to come and listen to him, regardless of their social and cultural status.

That does not mean that the philosopher did not have good relations. According to historians, he struck up a good friendship with King Antigonus II of Macedon, who used to invite him to his banquets despite Zeno's non-hedonistic customs.

What he could never do was participate in Athenian political life, something very common among philosophers. His status as a foreigner made it prohibited for him.

There are many testimonies that speak of the good character of Zeno who, apparently, even tolerated insults. On the other hand, it seems that he remained celibate all his life.

Death

Zenón dedicated himself to teaching philosophy for more than 30 years. The most widely accepted hypothesis about his death is that he committed suicide in 264 BC. C., when he was 72 years old.

Thought

Since the original writings of Zeno of Citius have not been preserved, all that is known about his thought comes from later testimonies, especially from Chrysippus.

According to these testimonies, Zeno affirmed that "there is a simultaneously rational and natural order of things" and "the good consists in the full agreement of the individual with that order", phrases that are part of the basis of Stoicism.

Likewise, he is credited with having divided philosophical research between logic, physics and ethics.

Art of good living

The Stoic school founded by Zeno rejected all kinds of transcendence and metaphysics. For the author, the so-called "art of good living" should focus on logic, ethics and physics.

In his thinking, logic was the way to defend yourself and filter what comes from outside the human mind. For its part, physics was the very structure of philosophy, while ethics was the goal of existence.

For Zeno, the ultimate goal of life was to achieve happiness, knowing that man is part of a community. Thus, nature leads the human being to love himself and others, conserving and conserving at the same time.

For this reason, the Stoic school rejects any differentiation between men, whether by birth or wealth. For them, all were able to achieve virtue, being free by nature and not slaves.

In this sense, they highlighted the importance of knowledge, since it grants freedom, while ignorance creates slavery.

Knowledge

Apart from the above, the Stoics did not avoid entering into some current debates in Greek philosophy, such as the essence of being and the external world.

In this regard, they positioned themselves among those who thought that all knowledge is acquired through the senses. These sensations that are received end up forming a representation of the perceived object.

According to his teachings, this implies that human beings are not born with innate ideas. Everything comes from the outside, although man must allow the representation to be fixed inside; this is how the idea of ​​the object is grasped intellectually.

Happiness

According to Zeno, the best way to achieve happiness is to avoid passions, hatred and setbacks. For that you must live without expecting anything special from life, letting yourself be led by destiny.

Main contributions

The logic

Faced with the mainstream of the time marked by Epicurus, Zeno pointed out that all knowledge is acquired through the senses. However, he also stated that when knowledge reaches man, he is capable of perceiving general moral concepts.

Zeno and his later followers believed that logical knowledge was not innate, but learned and that it was common to all.

Physics

The experts affirm that the physics that Zeno explained was greatly influenced by other philosophers such as Plato or Heraclitus.

For him, logos (in the form of fire) was the principle that governed the universe, both materially and immaterially. Therefore, nothing can escape universal destiny or divine laws.

Ethics

Despite the fact that, as explained before, human beings would be subject to logos, the Stoics tried to give a sense of freedom to existence.

The way to do it is by accepting the will of that divine fire and fighting the instincts and passions. Zeno established a series of common principles that could not be separated: reason, divinity, nature, freedom and happiness.

The reason was the tool to avoid passions and obey social laws. Thanks to this came happiness and freedom; hence the importance of knowledge to create free men.

Zeno himself established an analogy between school and life, pointing out that human beings have come to this to learn.

For this last reason his teachings used to be very practical, so that his disciples could know the way to live correctly and to overcome adversity.

The virtue

The importance that Zeno gave to virtue is very clear when you read some phrases that are part of his philosophy.

Thus, there are some who pray that "The supreme good is to live according to nature" or that "Zeno the Stoic thinks that the end is to live according to virtue."

Work

The only thing that remains of Zeno's works are some fragments that have come down to us through quotes from some of his followers. On the other hand, there is a list of all his writings prepared by Diógenes Laercio.

Some of his works were The Republic, The Signs, The Speech, Nature, Life According to Nature and The Passions.

Despite this lack of documents, the philosophical school created by Zeno survived its founder. In fact, it came to acquire great importance in Roman times, although with some notable modifications.

For the Roman Stoics, physics and logic were much less important, focusing only on ethics. These philosophers, with their praise for the ethics of effort and discipline, contributed to the later expansion of Christianity in the Empire.

References

1. Biographies and lives. Zeno of Citio. Obtained from biografiasyvidas.com
2. EcuRed. Zeno of Citio. Obtained from ecured.cu
3. Pages on Philosophy. Ancient Stoicism. Zeno of Citio. Obtained from paginasobrefilosofia.com
4. Philosophy basics. Zeno of Citium. Retrieved from philosophybasics.com
5. Mark, Joshua J. Zeno of Citium. Retrieved from ancient.eu
6. Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Zeno of Citium. Retrieved from encyclopedia.com
7. Pigliucci, Massimo. Stoicism. Retrieved from iep.utm.edu
8. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Zeno of Citium. Retrieved from britannica.com