Stoic Week 3/5: Ambition and Smarts

Note: Epictetus and Aurelius examined fictional characters like Medea and Hercules through Stoic sunglasses. Inspired, I apply the Stoic orientation to the messed-up impressions of characters in the TV stories of the original Perry Mason (1957 - 1966) and then I had the ghost in the machine recast it in the style of Musonius Rufus. In the novel TCOT Caretaker’s Cat, Perry Mason says on Stoic risk-taking, “What the hell can a man lose? He can't lose his life because he doesn't own that anyway. He has only a lease on life. He can lose money and money doesn't mean one damn thing as compared with character. All that really counts is a man's ability to live life, to get the most out of it as he goes through it, and he gets the most kick out of it by playing a no-limit game.”

The Case of the Larcenous Lady (Season 4, Episode 12, 12/17/60)

On the Pitfalls of Ambition

It is not the pursuit of high office that corrupts, but the manner in which one pursues it. Mona, though professing restraint, reveals herself not as a guardian of virtue but as one enslaved by ambition. She declares she will not interfere in the process of appointing her husband to a high post in state government, yet she proceeds to extort and manipulate, believing that the ends justify the means. But no end, however grand, can sanctify the use of vice. To blackmail is to abandon reason, and to intimidate is to forsake justice.

Such acts are not the marks of a noble soul but of one diseased by desire. The wise do not seek elevation through the exploitation and suffering of others. If a post is to be held, let it be earned through merit and service, not deceit. For what is the value of a crown gained by corruption? It weighs heavier on the conscience than on the brow.

Mona’s fate - death by the very ambition she nurtured - is not tragic but instructive. The Stoic mourns an end to all children of God, but learns from their unhappy fates: that unchecked desire leads not to glory, but to ruin.

On the Missteps of the Young and the Importance of Practical Wisdom

Susan, though kind and intelligent, lacks the prudence that wisdom demands. She gives away a great sum without securing proof in the form of a receipt, and worse, she tampers with death and deceit. To pick up a weapon at a crime scene is not merely foolish - it is a failure to consider what is within one’s control. To lie to one’s attorney about firing the shot from the murder gun to divert suspicion from the man she loved (identical to the one that didn't even know she was alive) is to sabotage the very advocacy one seeks.

Musonius Rufus taught that philosophy is not for idle speculation but for living rightly. Wisdom is not found in books alone, but in the choices we make daily. To act without thought is to live as a child, not as an adult with the slightest pretentions to live like a Stoic philosopher. Susan’s errors are not sins of malice, but of ignorance - and ignorance, though forgivable, is dangerous when left uncorrected.

Let us then teach our youth not only to be kind, but to have good calculation. Let them learn that love, if not guided by wisdom, becomes a tyrant. That truth, even when painful, is the ally of justice. And that in all things, we must ask: Is this within my power? Is this in accordance with virtue?