Preferred and dispreferred indifferents

In brief

In Stoic ethics, “indifferent” does not mean unimportant.[1] It marks things that are neither virtue nor vice and therefore do not, by themselves, make a person good or bad.[1] Health, adequate resources and favourable conditions are commonly treated as preferred; their opposites are dispreferred.[1] The distinction preserves two claims at once: virtue is the only ethical good, and everyday decisions still require sensible attention to circumstances.[1]

What the texts say

A Stoic choosing between health and illness normally has reason to choose health.[1] Health fits ordinary human nature and makes many activities possible.[1] Yet the choice does not settle whether the chooser is virtuous.[1] A person may pursue health greedily or unjustly; another may face illness while responding with courage and concern for others.[1] The moral quality belongs to the judgement and action, while the external condition belongs to the material with which the agent must work.[1]

“Preferred” and “dispreferred” therefore describe a ranking for selection, not a ranking of what makes a life ethically good.[1] Stoic sources also discuss “appropriate actions” — actions that are reasonable for someone in a particular role and situation, even when the outcome is not guaranteed.[1] The categories do not provide a mechanical algorithm; judgement is still required.[1]

How it has been read

The doctrine can sound like indifference to suffering when isolated from the distinction between moral value and practical selection.[1] That reading misses why Stoics classify some externals as preferable.[1] It can also be distorted in the opposite direction: calling health preferred does not make it an unconditional good that overrides justice.[1] A preferred outcome may be refused when obtaining it would require wrongdoing.[1]

Reading it now

The distinction can help separate a person’s worth from their status or possessions without pretending that those conditions have no effects. It is not a reason to leave preventable harm unaddressed. A useful question is not “does this matter?” but “what kind of value does it have, and what action does this situation call for?”

Further reading

Read the discussion of indifferents in the Stanford Encyclopedia entry on Stoicism and compare Marcus’ civic emphasis in Meditations 6.54.

Sources

[1] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism — Stoicism — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy