Stoic Pantheism

3. Explain and evaluate some of the Stoics’ arguments for pantheism. How are we to interpret these arguments? How plausible is their view? Is it more plausible than Plato’s version of the claim that the visible world is a living god? Could any version of pantheism be possible?

Pantheism, basically defined, is the view that “God is everything and everything is God.”   This is a very basic definition, and it is important to understand that this relation of God to everything else is underpinned by two main principles: first, everything in the world is somehow unified, and second, that this unity is divine . This is really just expanding on the first definition, however, it makes much clearer the main points. The Stoics are generally regarded as Pantheists, as there are certain texts of their’s which put forward this notion of the whole cosmos being one divine, rational living animal . Their understanding of god and nature is not completely unflawed, though, and neither is pantheism in general. In many ways, the Stoic view seems (naturally) ancient, and thus it is hard to take some of it seriously, however the ideas that they propound can be likened to many modern views that did not arise until centuries later.

To understand the Stoic view of pantheism, it is necessary first to have a basic understanding of their physics, as their view of god is central to it. The Stoic view of physics is based upon an active and passive principle that exists within all things. This is known as the archai, or starting points. The passive principle is matter, that which is shaped, and the active principle is reason or god. This active principle is also defined as Logos or ‘word’, and it shapes the passive matter. The Stoics believed that only what is corporeal can act or be acted upon , therefore we must conclude that they also believed that god and matter are both bodies, bodies being the only things that exist . The idea that god is a body also suggests that they did not think...