Adiaphora — Indifferents
This week you are learning about adiaphora (pronounced ah-dee-AH-for-ah), the Greek word the Stoics used for "indifferents": things that are neither good nor bad in themselves, such as money, health, and reputation. The Stoics did not mean these things are worthless or that you should ignore them; they meant that your character is the only thing that can never be taken from you, and everything else sits in a different category entirely. Understanding exactly where reputation lives in that category is what will free you from one of the most persistent sources of anxiety in everyday life.
Passage
Opponents speak thus: “You say, do you, that no good can be made up of things that are distinct? Yet this renown, of which you speak, is simply the favourable opinion of good men. For just as reputation does not consist of one person’s remarks, and as ill repute does not consist of one person’s disapproval, so renown does not mean that we have merely pleased one good person. In order to constitute renown, the agreement of many distinguished and praiseworthy men is necessary. But this results from the decision of a number—in other words, of persons who are distinct. Therefore, it is not a good.
— Seneca, Letters 102.8
Reflection
Now comes a challenge. Seneca's opponents argue that renown (a good reputation among genuinely good people) must be a good thing, because it comes from the judgment of many excellent people. This is a clever objection, and worth sitting with rather than dismissing. Seneca's reply, implied in the structure of the passage, is that the source of something does not change its category. Even if every wise person alive praised you, that consensus would still be something that happened outside your prohairesis. Reputation remains an indifferent regardless of who produces it. This matters for the week's theme: indifference to reputation does not mean being indifferent to being good; it means unhooking your sense of self from the scoreboard others are keeping.
Go deeper
Is there a form of praise or recognition you are currently seeking mainly from people you respect, and how would you act differently if you stopped needing even their approval as confirmation of your worth?
Practice
Separate the Virtue from the Verdict
Think of one area where you are working hard partly because you want admiration from people you genuinely respect. Write two sentences: one describing the virtuous quality you are trying to express (honesty, care, skill), and one describing the approval you are hoping will follow. Then ask: would you keep doing it if the approval were guaranteed never to come? Sit with whatever answer surfaces.