Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

165
StMor 38 (2000) 165-195
JOSEPH TORCHIA O.P.
ST. AUGUSTINE’S CRITIQUE OF THE ADIAPHORA:
A KEY COMPONENT OF HIS REBUTTAL
OF STOIC ETHICS
To what extent can we speak of a class of things which are
neither good nor bad, right nor wrong, but morally neutral? At
a time when moral judgments are increasingly reduced to the
status of personal preferences or mere opinions, the claim that
there is a sphere of human existence which is immune to moral
valuations is one which finds broad support. In a very real sense,
the idea of such a “duty free” zone is highly compatible with the
position that morality is relative to a given culture or subculture,
or else, a purely private matter governed only by the dictates
of individual conscience. For, once we eliminate a sense of
objectivity and intrinsic value from our moral purview, it seems
to follow that certain things are neither right nor wrong, but
simply “there” for our uninhibited use or enjoyment.
The notion of a category of morally irrelevant or “indifferent”
things is one that is deeply rooted in the history of moral
philosophy. While variations of this idea have emerged over the
centuries, it assumed its classic expression in the ethics of
Stoicism. For the Stoics, morality concerns only those areas of
human existence which are subject to our control. In Stoic
terms, things are morally classified in terms of three categories:
first, what is good or virtuous; secondly, what is evil or vicious;
and third, what is completely “indifferent” to considerations of
virtue or vice. Such moral “indifferents” (adiaphora) encompass
those things which are neither good nor evil, precisely because
they are neither helpful nor harmful to our nature as rational
beings. At the outset, however, it should be observed that the
Stoic doctrine of adiaphora ultimately points to a conviction in
the absolute self-sufficiency of the virtuous individual. From this
standpoint, one who possesses virtue can be said to be happy
even in the absence of those things usually considered crucial
elements of any complete and well-balanced human life.