Moral Progress
The lifelong climb of the 'progressor' who, though not yet wise, advances toward virtue step by step.
Moral progress (prokopē) is the Stoic idea that, since almost no one is a perfect sage, the real ethical life is the steady advance of the prokoptōn — 'one making progress' — toward wisdom. Developed especially by the early Stoa (3rd c. BCE) and dramatized by Roman Stoics like Seneca and Epictetus (1st–2nd c. CE), it placed daily self-examination and small, steady improvement at the heart of philosophy. The notion deeply influenced later traditions of spiritual self-cultivation.
How it traveled
- TheagesAthens · -348explains
- HistoriesMegalopolis · -118explains
- de Finibus Bonorum et MalorumFormiae · -43explains
- DiscoursesNicopolis · 108explains
- Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectusChaeronea · 120explains
- De recta ratione audiendiChaeronea · 120applies
- The HandbookNicopolis · 135explains
- Ad Se IpsumVindobona (Vienna) · 170explains
- HermotimusSamosata · 180explains
- Avot DeRabbi NatanYavneh · 220
- Vitae philosophorum— · 240explains
- Duties of the HeartZaragoza (Saragossa) · 1080
- Mishneh Torah, RepentanceFostat (Old Cairo) · 1180
- Guide for the PerplexedCairo · 1190
- Sha'arei TeshuvahGirona · 1260
- Sefer HaIkkarimSoria · 1425
- Akeidat YitzchakTarragona · 1490
- Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)Cairo · 1523
- Sha'ar HaGilgulimTzfat · 1570
- Sha'arei KedushaDamascus · 1572
- Pri Etz ChaimTzfat · 1572
- Reshit ChokhmahTzfat · 1575
- Ohr HaChammah on ZoharTzfat · 1620
- Kalach Pitchei ChokhmahPadua · 1730
- Da'at TevunotPadua · 1735
- Mesillat YesharimAmsterdam · 1738
- Derekh HashemAmsterdam · 1740
- Mikdash Melekh on ZoharTzfat · 1750
- TanyaLiadi · 1797
- Likutei MoharanBreslov (Ukraine) · 1802
Key passages(20)
Legum Allegoriarum Libri I-III · Philo Judaeus
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus · Plutarch
de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum · Cicero
De propriorum animi cuiuslibet affectuum dignotione et curatione · Galen