Another Article About Stoic Platitudes: "Stoicism For Police Executives"

    Here's a new article and some brief observations about it. I don't think that this gets too close to "politics" as the article seems relatively neutral on those issues, and intended to be general advice for all police officers.

    https://www.lawofficer.com/stoicism-for-police-executives/

    Not a word, as far as I can tell, that would give a police officer a moral compass on how to do his or her job, just a standard recitation of "virtue" as "the only true good," as if virtue exists apart from a view of what good is being targeted for accomplishment:

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    Stoicism, at its most basic, is about practicing what the Greeks called Arete, or virtue – the only true good. Stoics divided Arete into these four categories:

    1. Wisdom (Phronêsis) – One’s ability to employ the Dichotomy of Control and to identify and separate what they control from what they do not.
    2. Courage (Andreia) – One’s fortitude in facing and overcoming fears.
    3. Temperance (Sôphrosynê) – One’s self-discipline, self-awareness, and self-control.
    4. Justice (Dikaiosynê) – One’s commitment to righteousness, kindness, fairness and equanimity.

    As to the "dichotomy of control," why should anyone consider that Stoicism has a copyright on distinguishing what is within our control vs. what is not? Should Zeno be considered brilliant for copyrighting a fancy name for something that everyone of common sense can see?

    As for the rest of the descriptions, how does it advance anything to discuss character traits divorced from an analysis of the goal that is sought to be achieved?

    I'd say it's always dangerous to elevate process over a deeper moral analysis of goals, and police officers are among the last group of people who should detach themselves from deeper issues of morality.

    Quote from Cassius

    Not a word, as far as I can tell, that would give a police officer a moral compass on how to do his or her job, just a standard recitation of "virtue" as "the only true good," as if virtue exists apart from a view of what good is being targeted for accomplishment

    Isn't this the very characterisation of Stoicism? It gives a framework, but the space in between is empty. This leaves room to any kind of interpretation. The main thing is that you adapt to your environment, regardless what kind of matter it represents. This might be especially attractive for a civil servant.

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    Wisdom (Phronêsis) – One’s ability to employ the Dichotomy of Control and to identify and separate what they control from what they do not.

    I'm with Don--<X. In the spirit of fairness to the Stoics, even they don't deserve this kind of misunderstanding. Someone can just as well know what they do and do not control and be spectacularly wicked.