Do you? Hi, I'm Peter Adamson, and you're listening to the History of Philosophy podcast, brought to

you with the support of King's College London and the Lever Hume Trust online at

W.W. History of Philosophy.net. Today's episode Walking on Eggshells, the Stoics on logic.

When they invent time travel, I bet the first thing they will do is go back to ancient

Athens to meet Socrates and tour the Acropolis. I also bet they will be disappointed.

They'll probably forget to bring someone who can speak ancient Greek so they won't get much out

of Socrates. As for the sculptures and buildings, they will be surprised and a bit appalled

to find that these things were all painted in bright even gaudy colors.

For us, classical sculpture is pristine and white, marble-made flesh, but that's just because the paint has worn off.

Downtown, they'll find more paintings in a space adjoining the Agora or Marketplace. It was a long covered

colonnade for walking to and fro called the Stoa Poikile, the painted porch for the murals that

decorated it.

If the time travelers get their coordinates slightly wrong

and arrive a few decades after the death of Socrates,

they'll still get to meet some philosophers

if they venture to this public porch.

Because the Stoa was not only the name of a porch,

it was also the name of the greatest Hellenistic philosophical school,

named after its favorite hangout.

The early Stoa, better known to us as the Stoics, sought to follow Socrates' example in many things,

including his habit of doing philosophy in the middle of urban life.

Their porch makes a striking contrast to the Garden, Academy, and Lyceum. Whereas Epicurus, Plato, and Aristotle set up shop on the fringes of Athens, the Stoics planted themselves next to the marketplace.

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