Chrysippus
Hellenistic · Europe · 279 to 206 BCE
Third head of the Stoic school, who wrote hundreds of books and gave Stoicism its logic and its system.
What it is
Chrysippus was a Greek philosopher born at Soli, in what is now southern Turkey, who lived for about 73 years, from around 280 to around 206 BCE. Accounts differ by a year on the dates. He studied in Athens under Cleanthes and, around 230 BCE, took over from him as head of the Stoic school.
He is remembered as one of the most important thinkers of Stoicism and is sometimes called its second founder, after Zeno of Citium. He is said to have written more than 705 works, none of which survive in full.
The main ideas
- A logic of statements. Aristotle's logic works with terms such as "all men". Chrysippus built a logic of whole statements joined by words like "if" and "or", in which an argument is judged by how its statements connect.
- Impressions and the soul. His teacher Cleanthes pictured an impression as a seal pressed into wax. Chrysippus preferred to treat an impression as a change in the soul.
- Fate and what is up to us. He held that everything happens by fate, yet that our own actions and choices matter. Scholars describe this as a form of compatibilism, the view that a fated world and free action can both be real.
- Ethics rests on nature. He held that ethics depends on understanding the nature of the universe, and that human happiness and a life of virtue are one and the same.
What it looks like in practice
Imagine someone who says that if everything is fated, nothing they do matters. Chrysippus is thought to have replied that fate and our own choices can both be real, so that taking responsibility for what we do still makes sense. This is an illustration of his position, not a passage from his writing.
Books and moments
- More than 705 works. None survive in full, and what we have comes in fragments quoted by later writers.
- Before philosophy. He is said to have trained as a long-distance runner.
- Head of the school. Around 230 BCE he succeeded Cleanthes as head of the Stoic school.
Questions and criticism
- Is choice real? If everything is fated, in what sense are we free? Some scholars read him as a compatibilist, and it is fair to ask how well that position works.
- Defending a school. He is described as resisting the attacks of the Academy, a rival school. It is fair to ask how well those defences held.
- What is lost? Almost all of his work is gone. It is fair to ask how far later summaries can be trusted to show what he thought.
Close neighbours
He belongs to the Stoic school, which Zeno of Citium founded and Cleanthes led before him. Aristotle's logic of terms is the alternative that his own logic differs from.
Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 29 October 2026. The sources are listed below.
Philosophies they belong to or are close to
Who they connect to
Influenced by
- Zeno of Citium · He took over the Stoic school after Cleanthes and worked out its system.
Other Hellenistic thinkers
- Antisthenes · 445 to 365 BCE
- Diogenes of Sinope · 412 to 323 BCE
- Crates of Thebes · 365 to 285 BCE
- Pyrrho of Elis · 360 to 270 BCE
- Epicurus · 341 to 270 BCE
- Zeno of Citium · 334 to 262 BCE
- Cleanthes · 331 to 232 BCE
- Carneades · 214 to 129 BCE
- Cicero · 106 to 43 BCE
- Lucretius · 99 to 55 BCE
Sources we used
- Chrysippus · Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, read on 29 October 2026
- Chrysippus · Wikipedia, read on 29 October 2026