The Stoics and the World City

The Stoic school, founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens around 300 BCE, took natural law in a universal direction. Stoics believed the universe is ordered by logos, a divine reason running through all things, and that humans share in this reason. To live well was to 'live in agreement with nature', which meant following reason rather than passions. Because every rational being shares the same logos, the Stoics described humanity as citizens of one cosmopolis, a world city, regardless of their local state.

This was a striking idea in a world of city loyalties and slavery: the Stoic Epictetus had himself been enslaved, and the emperor Marcus Aurelius followed the same philosophy. Critics note that Stoics often stressed inner freedom and acceptance rather than reforming unjust institutions. Still, the ideas of a single law for all rational beings and a shared human citizenship passed through Cicero and Roman law into Christian and modern thought.