Abstract

In Aristotle and the Stoics Sandbach argued that there is no evidence to prove that the Stoics were influenced by Aristotle. This work challenges that conclusion by arguing that the Stoics both knew of and were responding to Aristotle's theory of human action. I establish this by a comparison of their views on action and responsibility. ;The relationship between Aristotle and the Stoics on this issue is complex. Their conclusions are diametrically opposed: Aristotle believes all voluntary actions are "in our power" $$ to perform or refrain from performing; the Stoics maintain that we cannot do anything other than what we in fact do. Yet there are many structural similarities between their theories. Their physiological explanations of action are nearly identical. They have the same criteria for counting us responsible for an action. Both Aristotle and the Stoics insist that we are responsible for our actions because they are "in our power." This is the point at which the theories diverge. The Stoics define the notion "in our power" so as to avoid Aristotelian freedom, holding that an action is "in our power" as long as it comes about through our own impulse and assent. ;I conclude that the structural similarities between the Aristotelian and Stoic views are more than coincidental: the Stoics adopted significant portions of Aristotle's theory of action, and their determinism is at least partly the consequence of Aristotelian views. More specifically, the Stoics' determinism makes explicit what was implicit but unnoticed by Aristotle in his own philosophy