It's best to avoid using the word 'basically' in relation to anything Stoic. Their position is very nuanced. To completely avoid attachment can be to lose much of what is valuable in life. But to become too attached renders one fragile, and often unnecessarily miserable. I think its about avoiding excessive attachment, or perhaps dependent attachment. Ditto for Buddhists.Hmm, so basically the Stoics say to avoid attachment? — Waya
At the other extreme is what was sometimes said of Marcus Aurelius - that he distanced himself so far from his family and friends that he lost all zest for life. — andrewk
I am not certain that I exist, but I believe I exist. It is an assumption. — Waya
One of the core tenets of the sciences is that empirical claims are not provable, they are only provisionally verifiable in lieu of falsification. All scientific claims must be revisable, otherwise they're not scientific claims.
So no one really versed in science was claiming proof or certainty from within its framework in the first place.
Certainty is not worth worrying about. — Terrapin Station
It would be wrong to argue from the observation that science does not produce certainty to the conclusion that we can never be certain. There are things other than science. Can you be certain that you are in pain? Or better, can you doubt that you are in pain? — Banno
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