Philosophies pride themselves on how they define good and evil. Even outside of any school of thought, we might have some idea of what aspects of life fall in each of those categories. What’s more, as anyone who has even been exposed to a major religion can tell you, the most pleasurable actions you could experience in this lifetime tend to fall under the “evil” heading, regardless if you perceive them as such or not. Stoicism is very different from other philosophies in this respect: it adds another category into the mix, that of indifferents. This post explores this peculiar moral category (and its subsets – preferred and dispreferred indifferents) to show how it complements the other two. It also provides some suggestions on how you can take a page out of the Stoic playbook and start to look at the world in terms of hues of grey, rather than just black and white. 

What is an “indifferent” to a Stoic?

The most basic definition of an “indifferent” would be this: anything that does not affect a person’s virtue. Recall that in Stoic ethics, virtue (or rather, moral excellence) is considered the highest good and thus one should dedicate one’s entire life to its pursuit. If you’re due for a refresher on the topic, this post is exactly what you need. 

It follows that things that are “good” promote virtue, while those considered “evil” hinder it. The “indifferents” (sometimes called “externals”) are completely neutral toward it, in that the Stoic student is responsible for how she or he chooses to approach them. A few examples of indifferents would be: health, wealth and friendship.

Wait – WHAT?! For a Stoic, health and friendship are classified as indifferent?

Indeed. Think of the definition presented previously. We can continue to live a morally excellent life whether we are in good health or not, or whether we are surrounded by kindred spirits or not. Having them is not up to us – it is part of the hand that we are dealt in the game of life. What is up to us is not engaging in morally compromising activities to improve our health or gain favor with people we admire. 

The distinction between preferred and dispreferred indifferents is important here. Of course we would rather be surrounded by companions and not be plagued by illness – this is why health and friendship are preferred indifferents, while their opposites are dispreferred. In the words of Seneca: 

“There is great difference between joy and pain; if I am asked to choose, I shall seek the former and avoid the latter. The former is according to nature, the latter contrary to it. So long as they are rated by this standard, there is a great gulf between; but when it comes to a question of the virtue involved, the virtue in each case is the same, whether it comes through joy or through sorrow.”

Seneca

The quote also reveals an interesting nuance about the two categories of indifferents: the preferred ones are “in according to nature”. So craving a delicious meal is not morally wrong, unless you start robbing someone to get their Michelin restaurant reservation 🙂 This example might be a bit too extreme, but you get the gist. Satisfying your human impulses is accepted in Stoicism so long as you don’t compromise your integrity to do so. Isn’t it refreshing to find a philosophy that’s tolerant for a change? One in which you don’t have to give up the very last shred of joy in order to be considered morally righteous?

If Stoicism categorizes things as good, evil and indifferent, this begs the question: are Stoics indifferent?

No, they absolutely aren’t, but this a common misconception. It owes to the fact that today we use the word “indifferent” to mean apathetic or uninterested, but that’s not not what it meant for a Stoic, as we’ve already seen at the beginning of this post. Perhaps the confusion between Stoic (with a capital S) and stoic is also contributing to this misunderstanding; the former refers to a student of the philosophy of Stoicism, while the latter refers to a person of impassive resignation.

Can preferred indifferents and the Dichotomy of Control be reconciled?

(Remember that the Dichotomy of Control is the Stoic distinction between what is up to us and what isn’t. If you want to learn more about it, you can do so from the free exclusive e-book I give to everyone who signs up to the Stoic Optimizer newsletter!)

So we’ve established that while not essential for living a virtuous life, there are still some indifferents we’d rather have. Some are completely out of our control, like health – we can’t decide whether we are born with a hereditary disease or not, while others, like friendship, we can still influence. However, since our life on this planet is finite – Memento Mori! – if we spend time pursuing indifferents, doesn’t this mean that we are wasting that time, rather than using it on something morally superior (such as helping others)? In other words, how should one prioritize one’s actions such that they have some of the preferred indifferents, but that they don’t end up chasing them to such an extent that it hampers their ability to achieve moral excellence? 

Here is one option: first do whatever you need to in order to satisfy the 4 virtues, then with the time/energy left, go after the preferred indifferents. Better yet, make it a virtuous circle (excuse the pun!) and see which of the preferred indifferents can have a positive impact on the world, the community or even your family. For example, try to stay fit and eat healthy so that you can be there for your kids as they get older. You see how this is no longer just your desire to not suffer from aging diseases (and implicitly to avoid pain), there is now a moral component to it, which makes it worth striving for.

Perhaps there is an even more intuitive way to go about it. Consider this: aim for moral excellence (in the Stoic sense of the world) and then structure the rest of your behaviors according to your values. For example, if you value growth and personal development, prioritize that over entertainment. Watch a TED talk instead of a funny cat video. Remember that the highest good is closely linked to reaching our potential, so if our values are properly aligned to who we are, then we will be spending time on that which is most virtuous. In the end, there might not even be a contradiction between the two… 

This post is part of a series about Stoic concepts. If you want to learn more about the main tenets of the philosophy, you might want to read the one about Amor Fati next.

The Stoic reserve clause is also worth reading, as it’s closely related to preferred indifferents.