The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers · Chapter
Ariston explained
This chapter focuses on Ariston the Bald of Chios, a Stoic philosopher who emphasized indifference to intermediate things between virtue and vice, rejected physics and logic in favor of ethics, and defined virtue as behavior relative to a s
What happens
This chapter focuses on Ariston the Bald of Chios, a Stoic philosopher who emphasized indifference to intermediate things between virtue and vice, rejected physics and logic in favor of ethics, and defined virtue as behavior relative to a specific context. It recounts his debates with Persaeus and Arcesilaus, his influence as a founder of a sect, and his death from sunstroke. The chapter also lists his attributed works and mentions other men named Ariston.
Themes in this chapter
Ethics and Self-Control
Ariston's philosophy centers on ethics as the only relevant branch of philosophy, defining virtue as behavior in a certain manner and advocating indifference to intermediate things between virtue and vice.
Wisdom vs. Sophistry
Ariston rejected dialectic reasoning as useless cobwebs, and his debates with Persaeus and Arcesilaus highlight tensions between Stoic wisdom and skeptical or sophistical arguments.
Characters to notice
- Ariston of Chios
The main subject of the chapter; a Stoic philosopher who advocated indifference to intermediate things, rejected physics and logic, and defined virtue as behavior in a certain manner.
- Zeno of Citium
Mentioned as the founder of Stoicism whose doctrine Ariston was attached to, and whose school Ariston left when Zeno was ill.
- Polemo
Ariston passed over to his school after falling in with him while Zeno was ill.
- Persaeus
Argued against Ariston's doctrine that the wise man is never guided by opinions, using a twin brothers deposit trick to convict him.
- Arcesilaus
Ariston's great enemy; Ariston mocked him with a bull having a womb and challenged an Academic philosopher who claimed not to comprehend anything.
- Timon of Phlius
Quoted as saying of Ariston: 'And one who, from Ariston’s wily race, Traced his descent.'
Key passages
“Ariston the Bald, a native of Chios, surnamed the Siren, said that the chief good was to live in perfect indifference to all those things which are of an intermediate character between virtue and vice; making not the slightest difference between them, but regarding them all on a footing of equality.”
Ariston taught that the highest good is complete indifference to everything that is neither virtuous nor vicious, treating all such intermediate things as equal.
This summarizes Ariston's core ethical doctrine of indifference to adiaphora.
“He also said that dialectic reasonings were like cobwebs; which, although they seem to be put together on principles of art, are utterly useless.”
Ariston compared dialectical arguments to cobwebs: skillfully constructed but completely useless.
This reflects Ariston's rejection of logic as a meaningful part of philosophy.
“And once, seeing a bull of a monstrous conformation, having a womb, he said: 'Alas! here is an argument for Arcesilaus against the evidence of his senses.'”
Upon seeing a bull with a womb, Ariston remarked that this provided Arcesilaus with an argument against trusting sensory evidence.
This anecdote illustrates Ariston's mockery of Arcesilaus's skeptical position.