Equality of All Humans
All humans share equally in rational nature and therefore have equal dignity regardless of sex, nationality, or social class.
The Stoic doctrine that logos is shared equally by all humans was radically egalitarian in the ancient world. Some Stoics argued against slavery on philosophical grounds; Stoics were notably open to women's philosophical education. This egalitarianism anticipated modern human rights far ahead of its time.
Our Lord, the God who created us, made us all kin.
Stoic egalitarianism, while imperfectly applied in practice, established philosophical principles that later generations used to challenge slavery and discrimination.
Epistulae Morales
Written about in
- What Stoicism says about envy and comparison
Stoics held that all humans share the same rational nature equally, a position that made them unusually open to educating women and gave some of them grounds to argue against slavery. If dignity is equal and already distributed, there is nothing left in rank to envy.