Stoicism
- “a philosophy about staying calm and focusing on what you can control”
- “how to not let things outside my control upset me”
- “the ancient philosophy the emperor Marcus Aurelius practised”
- “finding peace by accepting what I can't change”
01 · Side by side
Side by side
Comparison sheet
| Aspect | Stoicism | Nihilism |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Real, and self-made | There is none |
| Virtue | The whole point | Pointless |
| Facing hardship | Meet it with reason | Why bother |
| The aim | Eudaimonia — flourishing | None |
02 · Which one you meant
Which one did you mean?
In shortReaders who land here meaning Stoicism rather than Nihilism are usually searching for phrases like “a philosophy about staying calm and focusing on what you can control”, “how to not let things outside my control upset me”, “the ancient philosophy the emperor Marcus Aurelius practised”.
Nihilism
- “was nietzsche a nihilist”
- “what is nihilism simply”
- “types of nihilism”
- “nihilism vs absurdism”
03 · Which came first
Which came first
In shortStoicism. c. 300 BCE — Zeno of Citium teaches on the painted porch (stoa) in Athens.
- c. 300 BCE
Stoicism. Zeno of Citium teaches on the painted porch (stoa) in Athens.
- 1799
Nihilism. Friedrich Jacobi uses the word in his open letter to Fichte to negatively characterise transcendental idealism - as an accusation, not a self-description. Earlier German uses are on record for Obereit (1787) and Jenisch (1796).
04 · Read either one
Read either one in full
05 · Tell these apart too