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Stoicism and the Value of Life

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  • Ponthiere, Gregory

Abstract

Although the attitude towards death was central to Stoic philosophy, economists studying the value of life paid little attention to Stoicism. The goal of this paper is to build an analytical bridge between Stoicism and the economic study of the value of life. We use writings of Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius to show that the Stoic thesis of the neutrality of death - one should not be afraid of death, because death causes no harm - is rooted in the Stoic discipline of judgements (one should distinguish things that belong to the self from things that are out of control, such as the duration of life) and in the Stoic discipline of desires (i.e., wish for nothing that is not under one's control). The Stoic thesis of the neutrality of death is formalized by using the Stoic discipline of desires, which is modeled as an extension of the symmetric factor of the preference relation beyond its boundaries under standard preferences. It is shown that, depending on the extension of the indifference relation required by Stoicism, a longer life has either a purely instrumental value, or no value at all.

Suggested Citation

  • Ponthiere, Gregory, 2024. "Stoicism and the Value of Life," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1545, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1545
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marie-Louise Leroux & Gregory Ponthiere, 2018. "Working time regulation, unequal lifetimes and fairness," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 51(3), pages 437-464, October.
    2. Marc Fleurbaey & Grégory Ponthière, 2019. "The Value of a Life-Year and the Intuition of Universality," Working Papers halshs-02393392, HAL.
    3. Marc Fleurbaey & Marie‐Louise Leroux & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2016. "Fair Retirement Under Risky Lifetime," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(1), pages 177-210, February.
    4. Gary S. Becker & Tomas J. Philipson & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2005. "The Quantity and Quality of Life and the Evolution of World Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 277-291, March.
    5. Da Costa, Shaun, 2023. "Estimating the welfare gains from anti-retroviral therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Marc Fleurbaey & Gregory Ponthiere, 2023. "Measuring well-being and lives worth living," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 75(4), pages 1247-1266, May.
    7. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 2007. "The Value of Life and the Rise in Health Spending," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 39-72.
    8. Gregory Ponthiere, 2024. "Epictetusian rationality and evolutionary stability," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 647-673, July.
    9. Fleurbaey, Marc & Leroux, Marie-Louise & Ponthiere, Gregory, 2014. "Compensating the dead," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 28-41.
    10. Marc Fleurbaey & Marie‐Louise Leroux & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2016. "Fair Retirement Under Risky Lifetime," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57, pages 177-210, February.
    11. Maureen Cropper & James K. Hammitt & Lisa A. Robinson, 2011. "Valuing Mortality Risk Reductions: Progress and Challenges," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 313-336, October.
    12. Broome, John, 1978. "Trying to value a life," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 91-100, February.
    13. Shaun M. Da Costa, 2020. "The impact of the Ebola crisis on mortality and welfare in Liberia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(12), pages 1517-1532, December.
    14. Viscusi, W. Kip, 1998. "Rational Risk Policy: The 1996 Arne Ryde Memorial Lectures," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198293637.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    value of life; Stoicism; evil of death; indifference; discipline of desires;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income
    • B11 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Preclassical (Ancient, Medieval, Mercantilist, Physiocratic)

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