c. 335-c. 263 B.C.

Greek philosopher who founded the Stoic school. Among the areas addressed by the Stoics was health, and they were prescient in maintaining that a link exists between what modern people would call "mental health" and physical health. Thus the Stoics maintained that to be happy was to align oneself with nature. On the other hand, their teaching that individuals should patiently accept circumstances such as poverty, sickness, and death is certainly at variance with modern Western thinking.