How do we know virtue is the only good? Although the Stoics and Epicureans agreed on finding tranquility in life, they differed drastically on the topic of virtue.
In Letter 76, titled Only the honorable is good, Seneca wrote,
This is called virtue; this is the honorable and the sole good of the human being. Since only reason perfects a human, only reason makes him perfectly happy. But that by which alone he is made happy is his sole good. We say, too, that those things which proceed from virtue and are connected with it — that is, all the activities of virtue — are themselves goods.
Seneca warned Lucilius, “If you accept the view that something besides the honorable is good, then every virtue will have a hard time.” Virtue cannot be maintained by looking beyond itself. If so, it is contrary to reason — which virtue depends. [...]
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Virtue is the Only Good | According to Seneca