Yes, but not in the way a slogan might suggest.
It is true that Stoicism offers a disciplined way to think and act when a person’s power has been sharply limited. BUT, Stoicism cannot erase injustice, undo violence, secure housing for you, heal you illnesses, change a hostile institution, or guarantee a good outcome. It cannot transform someone who has no safe options into someone with lots of options. It is not a magic wand …
This distinction is important because it is the beginning of an honest Stoic answer. And honesty is crucial to any type of inner work. Because if a philosophy tells people facing poverty, coercion, discrimination, war, imprisonment, illness, or exploitation that their suffering is merely a matter of perspective, it is not philosophy any more, it has rather become a way of avoiding reality. And isn’t avoiding reality so common today?
The Stoics did not deny that there are external constraints. They asked a different, more intelligent question: when circumstances restrict so much, what remains available to human judgment, character, and action?
