A Research On The Stoic Soul-healing Thought

Stoicism had been going through the unrest during the social transformation of Greek. The historical and social changes have taken place in people’s economic life and social life. The Stoic idea of soul-healing is produced under these special social and historical backgrounds. The emergence and development of Stoicism is not accidental, which originated from a long history of thought and is based on previous philosophy and the mutual influence of contemporary philosophical schools as well.The therapeutic philosophy on soul-healing has a unique charm and value, especially the emphasis on logic and rationality. The stoic philosophy of soul-healing is based on treatments of different kinds of ontological mental illnesses, such as "passion". Passion is a disease of the soul and philosophy is the cure for it. To obtain a full recovery from the disease, people should try to reach a peaceful and rational state of his mind. Firstly, rationality can be used to examine whether behavior accords with nature. Secondly, logic can be used to check the belief system. Thirdly, it is necessary to use presentation properly to grasp the criteria of truth. The stoic philosophy of soul-healing leads to the achievement of virtue, conforming to rationality and returning to nature.Thought analysis is to cure the confused thought based on one’s mind by using the method of Socratic dialogue and logic. The stoic philosophy of therapy emphasizes on the rational standards in order to check behaviors, and the logic tools are used to check the belief system. From the perspective of thought analysis, "passion" is the thought disease, the tool is "logos" and the purpose is to make the people’s cognition being harmony. Therefore, the soul-healing of stoicism is consistent with the philosophy practice of thought analysis. The stoic philosophy of therapy as well as philosophy practice plays an important role in calming mind and comforting soul, in which way it makes philosophy serve the public and the society in a real sense.The Stoic idea of soul-healing had a profound influence and promoted the prosperity of the practical philosophy. There is a close relationship between the stoic soul-healing philosophy and CBT theory, REBT theory and LBT theory. These recently emerged theories on thought analysis still focus on the treatment of thoughts and cognitive problems, and the stoic philosophy has a great role to play in that development. Either theoretically or methodologically, Stoic philosophy has valuable significance on the modern philosophical practice.